The Five Mercenaries
by ATTF
Summary: [DISCONTINUED, pending rewrite!] Sequel to The 5 New Men. With the danger out of their lives, Engi, Medic, Spy, Pyro, Demoman and Team RWBY can finally have a normal-ish life. Nothing bad will happen, right...? As always, absolutely horrible summary, and I'll shut up. Summer will soon be alive, but not without something underneath...
1. Prolouge (Or Not?)

**NOTE: THIS STORY IS DISCONTINUED AND IS NOW PENDING A REWRITE.**

 **Welcome, to the sequel to** _ **The 5 New Men!**_ **If you haven't read it yet, go ahead, read it. Done? Now let's begin this story!**

 **Remnant – Vale**

"Slowly, slowly, slowly…"

A large and lumbering machine slowly trotted to its destination, a construction worker wearing a white hard hat using hand signals to direct the driver of the machine. Nearby, multiple workers, humans and Faunus, piled bricks up on and applied a grayish-white liquid on each new layer at a small plot of land. Construction managers stood beside their comrades, directing workers using instructions from the blueprints they held in their hands.

After the robot invasion had been halted and the threat quelled, the Vale council immediately dispatched hundreds upon hundreds of construction workers to rebuild the wrecked city, with 15,000 of its original 1,400,000 or so citizens dead or missing.

Surprisingly, the CCT escaped the destruction relatively unharmed, despite the countless missiles launched towards it by the robot forces. Thanks to the anti-air artilleries, the missiles never reached their target. Reports had also claimed that a single man used a hunting rifle to singlehandedly shoot down more missiles than the AA guns.

 **Beacon**

"Well, 'least the cafeteria's still intact." A girl with flowing blonde hair said, stepping into the room, scents of food reaching her nostrils. Her sister, a brunette with red highlights, squealed once she smelt the unmistakable scent of cookies and rushed towards the counter as a trail of red roses appeared behind her. Nearby, a girl with skin as white as snow pinched her nose and sighed in exasperation.

"Your sister's still the same, though." Another brunette walked up to the blonde, revealed to be the cookie-addict's sister. On her head, a black bow was tied around it, with her clothes being mainly black-and-white, with some purple leggings. "I like her to stay that way." The sister replied. Nodding, the brunette strolled towards the counter, her friends following closely behind.

After getting their food, they found an unoccupied table and took their seats. The blonde's sister returned with a large plate with cookies stacked upon one another, reaching a staggering height of a meter. The moment she sat down, the cookies started seemingly teleport into the girls mouth as she stuffed the cookies into it. Her sister laughed at the sight of the brunette's mouth enlarged to the size of multiple marshmallows.

"Hey Weiss, when does the school give us vacation, anyways?" The white haired girl looked up from her plate after hearing her teammate's question. "It's three days from now on, ties in with the winter holidays. You should really pay attention sometimes, Yang." The girl, Weiss replied, with an irritated tone in her voice. The large-chested girl fist pumped, giving a shit-eating grin to the air. "The school can't let us in while they repair the damage done." The other brunette added. "I can't believe we-no, Team R.E.D. managed to beat the robots, and that weapon, the amount of destruction it can do…"

"But still, lots of damage had been done, the docks are in ruins, and a lot of people are hurt, and…" The other members at the table didn't need the young girl to finish her sentence and they already knew what the word was. The red-haired girl's face immediately fell at her words, but instantly brightened up again when the door to the cafeteria opened, with nine men walking in once the door nearly flew from its hinges.

"Team R.E.D!" The cafeteria cheered at the red-clothed mercenaries, who had become a bit of a celebrity after the news of them building the weapon that rid Remnant of the robot threat were spread throughout Beacon. A man wearing a hard hat waved the cheers off, while a young man, looking slightly older than the four girls, blew kisses at the cheerers.

"Engi!"

"Yo, Ruby!" The Engineer was thrown back a bit when the brunette, named Ruby, hugged the man tight. His face twisted in confusion before patting her head, smiling. "Uh, 'scuse me." The girl blushed a bit and jumped back, face still slightly red.

"S-sorry, sorry!" Ruby stammered. The Engineer chuckled, ruffling the girl's hair, much to her annoyance. As the girl tried to fix her hair, the members of RED Team sat down at a table joined with the one Team RWBY is sitting at. The two teams exchanged greetings between one another, before the RED mercenaries strode off and took their food from the counter, receiving cheers as they did.

"So, where you guys staying when the school starts the repairs?" The blonde stated as the men sat down with trays of various food in their hands. The man with a mask on looked at the girls, before letting out a long sigh and relighting his cigarette.

"I am going to be straight here, we are leaving this place tomorrow." The reply shocked the girls into stopping whatever they are doing and look at the men with eyes as wide as plates.

"Y-Y-You're leaving? Why?" The redhead said, tears starting to form in the corner of her eye. The eyes of the blonde, however, turned into a shade of red before turning back into the normal lilac color of her irises. "Look, we know, you're our friends, but… We have a war to fight. As much as we don't want to leave you, we still need to fight our war." The masked assassin replied.

"The Engineer here has succeeded at building a working teleporter, and is successfully tested to show that it brings us back to where we came from." The Spy added. Suddenly, a ringing sound was heard coming from the Engineer's pocket. The Texan excused himself and walked into a nearby toilet. He took out a large and bulky phone, one that he kept on him at all times for no particular reason, and pressed a button on it.

"…H-Hello?" He was surprised that the device actually managed to ring and pick up a signal, but the voice of the Administrator sounding through the phone was even more of a shock.

"Yes m-ma'am?"

"You're fired." Silence.

"And the Medic, and the Pyro, and the Spy, and the Demoman. You are all fired." The voice coldly said. "B-But ma'am, what's the re-"

"You five had exceeded the time for non-notified leave, and thus you have been fired. As for your friends, the Heavy, the Scout, the Sniper and the Soldier, they are to be transferred to Team Drickston of the RED corporation. I expect them to arrive tomorrow twelve-hundred sharp. Am I clear?"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" The line went dead, leaving the Engineer with a beeping sound in his ears. Deep down, he was happy that he was going to be still staying here, but he still felt sad for leaving his four un-fired members. He put the phone away and made his way back to the cafeteria.

"Hey guys, I got news from the Administrator." The Scout did a spit-take as he heard the words, resulting in staining the clothes of an unlucky student who groaned. "The WHO?!"

"Who's the Administrator?" The brunette, with evidence of dried tears on her face asked. "She's the one who orders us around, give us instructions and plans of attack. She fired me, the Spy, Medic, Demoman and the Pyro for being absent for too long now."

"So you're gonna stay?" Yang excitedly asked the man, who nodded in response. "They won't, though." The Engineer motioned to the other four members. "They'll be going back today, and will be using the new teleporter I designed to do so. Even though I only talked with 'her' for 'round three times, I could recognize it as her 'Get the fuck back here' tone."

"Language!" Ruby shouted, pointing at the Texan. "So, ya'll better start packin', leaving tonight, nine sharp."

Ruby's mouth was twitching a bit, as if she doesn't know to be happy or to be sad. "OK! B-Bye!" The girl shouted after them as Team R.E.D. exited the cafeteria, with the four other members taking a final look around and waving in the direction of Team RWBY and JNPR.

"It's actually sad, to get away from here." Scout said as he swung his bat. Heavy grunted in agreement. Sniper merely pulled his hat down and walked in silence. Soldier was, for once, actually silent. The team walked through the avenue, and into their respective dorms.

 **7.00 PM**

"Are you sure this will work?" The Russian asked the Engineer as he toyed with his bullet. "Bah, it'll be mighty fine." He answered as he stood up from his chair and pressing a nearby button. The contraption directly in front of them started making whirring sounds, and shaking violently. Scout slowly backed up, afraid of the machine. The shaking stopped after a few seconds, and the rectangular plate on top of the machine started spinning rapidly, before a bright purple glow was emitted from the 'Enhanced Teleporter 2000', as the Engineer had named it.

"Go on!" The four members reluctantly moved on to the teleporter, and one by one they disappeared in a flash of purple light, leaving only violet particles floating around in the air. The Heavy shook the Texan's hand, before waving towards the four girls of Team RWBY who were giving a farewell to their friends, and stepping onto the contraption, disappearing soon after.

Ruby wiped a tear away from her eyes, and walked up to the Engineer and his comrades. "So… Where are you staying?" The Engineer looked up, and looked at his comrades, who shrugged. "W-We don't know, we weren't planning on that." He said as he opened his scroll and went to a house renting website. Ruby saw through the transparent screen and smiled, before running back to Yang and asking her something. Yang grinned after listening to her sister, and gave her a thumbs up.  
"You lot can stay at me and Yang's place at Patch!" Ruby said excitedly, her movements bouncy. "No, ve can't, von't want to im-"

"Nonsense, I asked dad 'bout it, and he is happy to give you a place for now!" Yang interrupted the Medic as she walked up to the five men and her sister. The five mercenaries looked at each other, before nodding and the Spy taking his cigarette out from his mouth. "We accept your offer, thank you!" Spy said as he smiled genuinely, contrasting his usual snarky and sarcastic grins.

"Well, let's get packin', boys!"

 **Three days later – Patch**

"Ugh…"

"Fucking turbulence…"

"C'mon, it's not that bad!" Yang exclaimed as she patted the Medic and the Demoman on the back, who were kneeling over trashcans and puking green matter into them. "All me scrumpy…" The Demoman glumly said as he stood back up.

They had just arrived at the airport at Patch, an island off the coast of Vale, home to Signal Academy. The Y and R of Team RWBY led the five mercenaries-now-teachers through the exit, where a pick-up truck was parked. A man with blonde hair was leaning against it, with his left hand in his pocket and the other holding his scroll. He noticed movement in his peripheral vision, and looked up, beaming.

"My lovely girls, finally back!" He exclaimed with hands wide open, welcoming the two girls for a hug. Ruby squealed and ran into the man's embrace, with Yang following closely behind. The blonde man hugged them both, and lifted them into the air effortlessly.

"Wow, that guy's tough." The Texan whispered to the Spy, who nodded. "Zid you notice that Yang and the man share the same color scheme in clothing?" The Engineer looked back towards the man, and indeed he saw similarities. Firstly, he was blonde, Yang was blonde. His clothing mostly consists of yellow and tan brown, so does Yang.

"I'm taking zat he is zeir father then?" The Medic said while adjusting his backpack filled to the brim with medical equipment and blood samples. Ruby overheard them, "Yea, he's me and Yang's dad." She said while gesturing to her father. "Dad, meet Engi, Medic, Spy, Pyro and Demoman. Engi, Medic, Pyro, Spy, Demoman, meet Taiyang Xiao Long!" She nearly squealed, but held it in. The five men walked up to Taiyang and exchanged greetings and shaking hands.

"My little red here has told me about your exploits, and damn I wished to thank you for saving Vale." Ruby looked at him, and pouted. "Daaaad! Also, one for the swear jar!" She said as she magically pulled out a jar filled with small coins. Her father sighed and pulled out a 1 Lien coin and deposited it into the jar.

"Now let's get going." Taiyang said to the five mercenaries and his daughters.

 **Taiyang's house**

"This is a quaint lil' house, I like it!" The Engineer said as he stepped through the doorway. The owner chuckled and directed each of them to the guest rooms, with five mattresses laid out in it. After setting their bags down, the five RED men sat down and chatted.

"Hey, guys. What do you think we could do for, you know… them helping us out?" The other members looked at Engineer, before shrugging. Sighing, the Texan got up and approached Ruby, who was watching the holo-television, laughing every now and then. He joined in, and found out she was watching a film. After watching for a while, he heard footsteps behind him and turned around in his seat, revealing Taiyang.

"Hey, I wanna show you a place…"

 **A few minutes later**

The five men followed Taiyang and Ruby through a forest, teeming with flora and fauna. Soon, they reached an opening. A cliff was located at the end, and there was a small gravestone there.

"This is where my wife was buried, passed away during a mission. She was a huntress, and a good mother." Taiyang said as he stood in front of the grave. The Enginner walked up towards it, before muttering 'May I' to the blonde, who nodded.

Once he was closer, the Engineer was able to clearly see the details of the gravestone. A rose was carved onto the piece of stone, with the words 'Thus kindly I scatter' engraved onto the surface. The Engineer slowly turned around, returning to the group.

"I think I solved the problem of repaying them." He muttered under his breath, going unnoticed by everyone except his team.

 **A/N: Whoo! Now that exams are coming up, I have to write with very little time. So how's the story coming up? Now before we continue, here's what I'll have to warn you. If you don't want to be spoiled, then don't read the next sentence, just favorite, follow and leave a review if you liked it!**

 **Summer is going to be alive.**


	2. Magic?

**Patch**

"So how we gonna do this?"

"Ruby told me that she's gonna be following her dad and Qrow to Signal, where they're teachers, to help them with paperwork every day. Yang will be with 'em, as well." Engineer said quietly in their room, talking to his comrades in the cover of night.

"And I take it zat's when you want us to do our work, right?" The resident German in the team asked. The Engineer nodded, while Spy held up a hand. "We haven't talked about _how_ we are going to revive her, we don't have her DNA or the materials to build another reviver."

"He's right, lad. It's not like we can just magically raise her from the dead, me thinks its bullshit." The Demoman added, taking another swig from his bottle of whiskey. Engineer clasped his hands together and rested his head against the wooden wall, making a small 'thud' sound echo across the small room. After a few minutes, a lightbulb seemingly appeared above his head, and he smirked. "What's your plan, Texan?" Spy inquired while lighting another cigarette, noticing the grin on the man's face.

"Thanks Demo, you gave me an idea."

"Hm? Wha' did I do?"

"We summon Meras-"

The Demoman stood up, took his Eyelander out and pointed it menacingly at the Engineer, who shrinked back in terror and surprise. "NOT THAT BLOODY LUNATIC!" He silently yelled, inching the blade closer to the man.

"B-But hey, it's the only s-shot we got! Medic can't possibly revive dead people over-" The Medic looked up. "Ten years."

"Y-Yea, ten years! But with Merasmus," The blade inched closer. "We can ' _ask_ ' him to bring'er back to life!" The Engineer's voice wavered as the blade was practically touching his nose. He looked at the Medic, who sighed, and pulled out his Crusader's Crossbow and loaded a dart colored yellow into the muzzle. He took aim, and squeezed the trigger. The dart flew out, and struck the Demoman in the neck. His sword began to sway, before his entire body collapsed to the floor, loud snores emanating from the sleeping Scotsman.

"'Preciate it, doc."

"So, as we vere saying, we summon Merasmus, but how?" The Spy said, puffing smoke out as he stuck a second cigarette into his mouth, powered by pure nicotine addiction. "While we were in Teufort once, I was going over files for Soldier, and I saw a book, titled ' _Merasmus' book of Spels'_ with a misspelled spell. I borrowed it from Solly, and gave it a read. One of 'em," The Engineer took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it. "Is the spell to summon the bastard wizard, AKA Merasmus." The finished writing the spell with a click of his pen.

"Now, let's discuss ze plan of action." The team, except for Demoman, nodded at the Medic.

 **The Next Day**

"Oh, I'm _so_ excited to go back to Signal and meet my old friends!" Ruby exclaimed while trotting over to her father's pick-up truck, with Yang following closely behind. "How many friends to you have, anyways?" Ruby looked down, and answered Yang with a weak 'four' escaping her mouth.

"Hey ladies, you better be faster else we'll be late!" Taiyang shouted from the driver's seat, hands on the steering wheel. Ruby and her sister immediately got in and waved goodbye to the five teaching assistants staying at their home.

"Good, now that they're gone, initiate the plan in three… two…"

"Just start the goddamned plan!" The Demoman screamed over the radio transmitters, cutting off Engineer from his dramatic countdown. "Alright, alright, no need to burst our eardrums." The five men walked back inside the wooden cottage, and each donned their respective backpacks filled with digging tools and set off.

They walked in relative silence, aside from the occasional empty chatter and seeing if there's anybody following them. After walking for around fifteen minutes, they reached the cliff clearing, with the gravestone at the end. The leader of the team, Engineer, motioned them to start digging at the gravestone. The Engineer and his team muttered a silent apology to the soul of Summer Rose, before continuing. The Demoman, who reluctantly agreed with the plan, stood watch as he held his grenade launcher in his hands, constantly scanning the area for any movement. The other four members took out their shovels and started digging into the soil, careful to not touch the body or coffin buried beneath.

The digging process was boring, and deathly eerie. The Demoman was starting to doze off as well, but a quick shovel to the head quickly woke the Scotsman up. A few creatures of Grimm got close, but not too close as the Demoman usually decapitated them before they could do so. After digging a few foot, they decided to use less force in digging to avoid damaging the corpse or coffin.

' _Thud'_

"I found it!" The team quickly unearthed the intricate wooden coffin, slowly hauling it up and wrapping with some tar layers and putting it on a sledge. The other members collected dirt and shoved it into the hole of the grave, and sprinkling some grass on the covered hole to disguise the fact that they dug the body up.

After making sure that the dirt was properly covered, they pulled the disguised coffin and started to go back. Along the way, somebody questioned what it was for, and they replied with 'collecting firewood'.

"Zat was, admittedly, a very bad lie." The Medic stated after the man left, with the Engineer nodding. After a few more minutes of walking, they reached the cottage. The Engineer quickly pulled out his scroll and dialed in a number.

"Hey Frank? I need to call in a favor now. I need'ya to bring your truck over to my coordinates and help me transport something. Fifteen minutes? Okay, thanks mate."

"Who was that?" The Spy asked as he examined the wrapped-up coffin. "Friend of mine, lives in Patch. Met him while out drinking some booze at 'The Club'."

After a short fifteen minutes, a red and blue truck appeared and parked in front of the cottage. The ex-RED team members lifted the coffin in to the back of the truck, and left the Pyro and Spy to stay at the house while the others go to a small house they rented at Patch, where the coffin is being transported.

 **A Few Hours Later**

"Wow, I didn't know you had a boyfriend." Yang said with a smirk as she stepped out of the vehicle, making Ruby blush a dark shade of red. "Wha-? H-He's just my friend!" She squeaked, making Yang laugh even harder. "Just kidding, Rubes."

Taiyang listened in on the short exchange, and can't help but laugh a little, before reaching for the door handle. The door then opened by itself, revealing Pyro who opened the door. The man nervously chuckled, before letting his daughters enter. Inside, the Engineer was watching television, but the others were nowhere to be seen.

"Hi Engi!"

"Yo!" The Engineer replied both the girl's greetings with a wave and continued watching the news report. "Hey, where'd the others go?"

"They went out to sightsee, but I came back early." He answered the blonde male, before once again resuming watching the screen. Taiyang nodded, and looked at the calendar hung on the wall. His eyes widened at the date.

 _23_ _rd_ _of November, 3081_

"Hey uh, Rubes and Yang? You two stay here for a while, I gotta go do something. The two girls looked puzzled for a moment, before nodding at their father. The man took another leather jacket and wore it while exiting through the backdoor located in the kitchen.

' _Let's hope that the grass wasn't blown off…'_ The Engineer thought while looking at where Taiyang once stood at the kitchen. He then took the scroll, shutting off the television and walking back into his room. Once inside, he checked that he locked the door securely and placed a muffling device recently made by the entrance, making the room soundproof.

He whipped out the scroll again, and pressed the Medic's contact, automatically dialing in his scroll number. "Hey doc? Anything going on there?" He said quietly into his scroll.

" _Nothing, everything's going smooth- Don't touch zat! As I was saying, everything's fine. It took me, in our resident idiot wizard's words, 'extensive persuasion to agree to help you' but in reality I just gave him a gold ingot. Which isn't really a gold ingot, it's just aluminum painted gold!"_ The Medic said the last bit very quietly, barely able to be heard.

"Oh you sly sonova bitch…" He chuckled humorously, the image of Merasmus discovering that the 'gold' is aluminum popping into his mind. "So how long will it take to finish?"

" _Hmmm… zat is a good question… Maybe four hours? Six at most, and two if ve're really lucky."_ The Engineer nodded, and cut the call, sighing heavily. He then stood up and walked over to the window, but not before retrieving his muffler, and opening the glass, letting fresh air flow into the room.

The sky is painted a warm orange, with a tint of bright yellow in the horizon, and blue just above the tree line. The Engineer continued to gaze out for what seems like hours, before deciding to go back to watching TV.

 **The Cliffside, Summer Rose's Grave**

The blonde man stood in front of the gravestone, a somber look on his face.

"Hey, Sum." He walked up to the grave, and his hand reached into his pocket, pulling out a rose.

"Happy anniversary!" He said with as much joy as he could, but the voice still sounded sad, and cracked. "Y'know, it's been fifteen years since we were married, and ten years since…" His voice trailed off, as a tear formed in the corner of his eye.

"Anyways. Ruby's doing great, made some friends, made it into Beacon, and teamed up with Yang. One of her teammates is Weiss Schnee, A _Schnee_! I could imagine them getting along…" He wiped the lone tear off the corner of his eye, and laid the rose down onto the surface of the grave. Smiling, he muttered 'Goodbye' and turned around, before slowly doing a double-take.

"Wait… Why is the grass gone?" He knelt down, and looked at the patch of dirt, with a layer of grass scattered, not planted, on top. A gust of wind blew by, sending the grass flying away. Puzzled, he leaned in closer to the soil, and noticed that it was freshly dug, with the soil being loose and marks of digging are slightly visible, but not to the untrained eye.

His mind slowly pieced the evidence together, before his hands started to glow, before combusting into flames.

 **The Cottage**

The Engineer sat on the couch, lazily scrolling through the countless news articles on the Vale news network's site. One particular report caught his eye, titled 'Scientist Successfully built micro-computers in cellular organisms'. He tapped on the article, and started reading the contents. He was stopped mid-paragraph by a series of quick knocks on the door, turning his head around in surprise along with Ruby and Yang, who were still watching TV.

"I'll get it." The man said, standing up and making his way to the door. Opening, he was greeted with Taiyang's angry face, and-

 **WHAM**

-his fist. His glowing, burning and _very_ hot fist. The Engineer flew backwards, slamming into the wall with a lout 'thud'. His hard-hat saved him from having a concussion, but he was still in immense pain nonetheless.

"What!? Dad, why'd you do that!?" Ruby screamed, but her father did not reply. Instead, he walked over to the Texan, and proceeded to pull his fist back for a punch. The Engineer noticed this, and rolled away just in time as the fist collided with the floor, making a sizable dent.

The Engineer quickly got up, and readied himself for another punch from the blonde. "Why are you attacking him!?" Yang shouted, making Taiyang turn towards her. "Because he and his other friends dug up your mother!"

' _That sounded surprisingly weird… WAIT! Why am I thinking about that!? I should be watching out for an incoming fi-'_ The Engineer's train of thought was interrupted when he narrowly dodged a fist sent his way, and noticing in his peripheral vision that Yang's hair is burning, and her eyes closed, before flickering open, turning a crimson red, with Ruby looking at him both confusedly, and strangely. _'Oh fuck!'_

"T-This must be an misunderstanding, they would never do something like that, right E-Engie?" The redhead said, but the Engineer did not reply, as he was too focused on running and dodging fists of fury.

Suddenly, a loud ringing sound was heard, resulting in the one-sided battle between the Engineer and Taiyang, with Yang about to join in, to comically stop. The Engineer nervously chuckled before reaching into his pocket and pulling the scroll out. Then the battle resumed, only with Yang adding more pressure on the attack. The Engineer madly ran around, attempting to dodge a flurry fists.

" _Engi! Good news! The operation was completed in less time than-"_

"Just shut up and come here quickly! Double time! Bring her and the others! Also, bound Merasmus u-" A fist connected with his stomach, making him spit out blood and stumble backwards. The fist was revealed to be Yang's and she seems intent on _killing_.

"STOP!" Ruby scream filled the house, making the trio stop. "How can you be so sure of it!?" Ruby pointed at her sister and her father, eyes on the verge of tears. Taiyang slowly pulled out a device from his pocket, rectangularly shaped and consists of a black screen with a red button. "I found this at the grave. Who has this?!"

"T-T-The Engineer…"

"And it certainly isn't there yesterday, so it must be today, and what happened today?"

' _SHIT!'_ The Texan thought, mentally slapping himself. Now, Ruby, the young and innocent girl, started to fall on her knees, lightly sobbing, while Taiyang held the Engineer up by the neck. Suddenly, the sound of an engine is heard outside, and a car passed parked in front of the house. Soon, the door opened, revealing the Medic and his teammates.

"Hey gu- Oh my god Engie." His eyes landed on the Engineer, struggling for air, with the father of Yang and Ruby holding him up by the neck. Yang started to send a punch towards the German, intent on making a good-sized dent in his face. Reacting quickly, the Medic quickly pulled out a Medigun and pressed the Ubercharge, making his body shine red. The punch deflected, creating sparks along the body. "VAIT! We just need you to meet someone!"

Slowly, but still forcefully, Taiyang started to set the Engineer down, who gasped for air desperately once the iron grip was loosened.

"Who. Is it?" The man grumbled deeply.

"You'll know. H-hey, you can come here now."

A woman, looking no more than 18, slowly trudged into the doorway, each footstep making a small sound. Her walk is wobbly, as if she had never used her legs before in a long time. Her legs were slender, and she was wearing a black T-shirt with blue jeans.

But that wasn't what Ruby, Yang or Taiyang cared about. Their eyes were fixated on the woman's face. Black hair with red highlights, color brightening once closer to the end of the strands of hair.

 _Silver eyes_

It was a carbon copy of Ruby, looking only _slightly_ older, but with the same, cheerful grin.

"M-M-Mom?!"

 **A/N: CLIFFHANGER, BITCHES! Yes, I'm evil. I wish to apologize for the lack of updates as I mentioned last chapter, exams are close, and I need to cram. I might have to be absent for another week, as I need to cram even** _ **more**_ **. So, I'm sorry.**

 **But hey, just wait! Bye!**


	3. Never Do That Again

**A/N: Hello! I'm back! Before we start, let me apologize for leaving this story alone for 2 weeks straight. Without further adue, let's begin! Oh, and there's a lot of blood in this chapter.** _ **A Shit Ton.**_

 **Patch**

 **4 Hours Prior**

"Let's zee… How are ve going to zo zis…"

"Ab-nu-ro… brun-do-etch-dra?" The Medic muttered as he read off a note in his hands. After a few moments, he spoke louder.

"Ab-nu-ro-brun-do-etch-dra?" Nothing happened.

"AB-NU-RO-BRUN-" A bright flash.

"Okay! Okay! I'm here! Seriously, what does the Soldier want from me…" The, in the wizard's words, ' _Great and Powerful Lord'_ Merasmus _'_ voice trailed off. He looked at the grinning Medic, and to the note in his hands. Then back to the Medic, and back to the note.

"I'm not in Soldier's apartment aren't I?"

"Nein, now ve need your help." The Medic stated as he put the note down on his surgical tray. "Help with what?" The wizard continued in a echoing voice.

"Resurrection." The Medic said matter-of-factly.

"Resurrection? Oh that is a glorious art of magic beyond by powers, oh the zombie armies that I can bu- D-Destroy, with those f-forces. It requires years, decades, centuries of practice to perfo-"

"Take this and do it." A gold bar shined brightly in the Medic's hands, illuminating the wizard's shocked face. In a blur, the gold bar disappeared, and empty air took its place. Merasmus lifted his hand in the air, and made a gesture towards the body lying on the surgical bed.

"Bap-no-prip, bron-do!" He chanted deeply as a bright green flash of light flew into the skeletal remains of the late Summer Rose, blinding everyone in the room currently. When the Medic regained his bearings, the 'oh so powerful' wizard had disappeared, with nothing but a pile of smoke kicking up on the ground.

 **Meanwhile, in Ruby's perspective**

" _Breaking news, a man wearing strange robes and sporting a skull for a hat is currently speeding on the runway, with a comically large amount of smoke covering his tracks."_ The news feed cuts to a live footage of the said man. The man's legs were moving so fast, they weren't even visible.

"Geez, this should'a been called-"

I interrupt Yang before she could make that pun. "Sis, no."

" _Brake_ ing' news! Eh?"

A pillow flew into her face so hard; she was knocked over the couch by the force of impact. Turning my head, I saw dad picking up another pillow, readying for another throw.

 **Back at the Medic**

"Huh." He muttered softly, before turning back to the skeleton body.

There seems to be no change at all, but upon closer inspection, the Medic noticed that the skeleton was _breathing_ , its chest rising up and down. Well, Summer's skeleton. "Mein Gott…" Moving quickly, the Medic walked over to the Medigun hung on the wall, and flicked the switch.

The beam of red light poured out into the skeleton, and the body started shaking. After the shaking stopped, a small red lump appeared in the chest area, and started growing slowly. After a moment, the lump expanded enough to reveal it's the heart, slowly enlarging.

"Zis might take a vile…"

 **3 Hours Before Engineer's Beating**

"FINALLY! Zis is taking too long!"

The skin, the last layer to grow, finally finished growing. Being the gentleman that he is, the Medic covered the now-alive body of Summer Rose up with a medical gown while managing to not look at the 'special regions'.

"Now, time to wake you up."

He reached his hand out, and gave the body a small shake. No response. He shook again. No response. He shook harder. Her breathing becomes more intense. He prepared for another shake, but was stopped when the patient's eyes flickered open and sat up quickly, making the Medic jump a good feet into the air.

"Whoa! Calm zown!" The Medic shouted softly, holding his hands out. Summer looked at the man, before staring at her hands in disbelief. She looked up again at the Medic, and scrutinized him. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She reached for her throat and tried speaking again. A small whimper escaped.

"Zon't worry, being dead for a decade doesn't really give your vocal cords a good training." At his words, Summer's eyes widened yet again. "Now let's begin. Your name is Summer Rose. Correct?" She nodded weakly. "And you are a mother of how many daughters?" The woman made a 'two' sign with her right hand, smiling slightly. "Your daughters' names are Yang Xiao Long, and-" He was stopped by her, holding up her right hand. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, making a small sound. She shut her mouth, and tried again.

"Ruby Rose…"

 **Patch – Ruby's house**

 **Ruby POV**

"Mom?!"

She's there. _She,_ my mother, standing right there!

"Ruby… Yang…" At this point, tears were streaming down my face, and so is Yangs, tears welling up in her lilac eyes.

But she was dead! How could she be alive?! Those were the questions I kept asking myself. Without a second thought, I ran into my mother, hands open for an embrace. She wrapped her slender hands around my neck, tears streaming from the corner of her eyes. Yang soon joined in, followed closely by Taiyang. We each embraced each other, enjoying the warmth of a family.

 **Third Person POV**

The Engineer smiled broadly, wiping a small tear forming at his eye. "Good job Med." He quietly said, not wanting to disturb the family moment happening right in front of them. "I should actually give Merasmus an actual reward, considering he managed to do this." He muttered even more quietly.

"I miss my family. Hopefully, zey are fine vif ze one million dollars I sent zem." The Medic butted in, watching the quiet moment before him. "I'm worried 'bout your wife though."

"Nein, she is receiving therapy vell. She should be fine in a few months."

"Glad to hear that." The Engineer said as he knocked the bottle from the Demoman's hands, sending it crashing outside, apparently hitting a cat as one could be heard angrily. "Aye?"

After a few minutes of warm hugging, the S and T of Team STRQ and the R and Y of Team RWBY finally broke apart, each having a grin plastered on their faces and evidence of dried tears. "I missed you all…" Summer muttered out for everyone to hear, who smiled.

Taiyang's face suddenly morphed into one of confusion, then an unreadable expression.

"I'm hallucinating again aren't I? Ruby, quick, take me to the hospital…" He trailed off at the end, placing his palm over his head. Summer smirked mischievously before walking up to her husband, and giving a playful swat on the head, only to discover something… peculiar.

"Wait, why am I shorter?" She said, voice now clearer instead of the raspy tone while waking up. The Medic put his hand over his chest, and stepped forwards with his back arched straight. "Zat, is because being resurrected will have some sort of side effects, Mrs. Rose."

"Wait, she was actually RESURRECTED?! I-I mean, I just thought that she faked her own death to do some long-ass mission!?" Yang nearly yelled, hands flailing around. Ruby seemed indifferent, her big grin still plastered on her face, along with the dried tears. "There are a multitude of side-effects. The major ones include: De-aging-"

"Wait, DE-AGING?!" Now it was Taiyang's turn to scream, making the Medic facepalm with a loud smack. "Yes." He stated. "Then h-how old is she now?" After hearing this question, the Medic put his index finger on his chin, contemplating the answer. "She is… around Ruby's age. Give or take a few months."

"Wooo… That's not even a proper side-effect!" Summer chirped. "As I was saying, side effects are: De-aging, possibly slower hair growth," At the mention of hair, the Engineer noticed the fiery flame in Yang's eye flicker for a second. "And that's about it. To me, it isn't really a side effect."

"Wait, then why didn't I get those side-effects when I was resurrected?" Ruby and Yang winced slightly, but Summer's and Tai's reactions were more… extreme. "WHAT?!"

"WHEN DID YOU DIE?!" Summer, throwing the fact that she was recently resurrected and lacking a good deal of strength out the window entirely, placed both of her hands on Ruby's shoulder and started shaking her violently.

"U-U-Uh D-D-During Th-The battle of Vale-uh!" She struggled to form words, but managed to anyway. Summer stopped shaking her daughter. "Battle of Vale?"

"There's going to a history lesson after this, _young lady._ " Yang said with a shit-eating-grin on her face, making Summer's face turn a slightly darker shade of red. "W-What? Don't call me young lady, I am your mother!" She spoke questioningly. "Technically, as the doc said, I'm older than _you!_ "

At this, the entire family burst into laughter, with the RED Team members giggling. After a moment of talking, Summer turned around, and her eyes landed on the Engineer's left eye. "What happened to your eye!?" She said, with her voice almost the same as Ruby's. "O-oh, uh…" Taiyang and Yang looked at each other, before stepping forward, and bowing. "WE ARE SORRY FOR PUNCHING IN THE FACE, GUT AND ANY OTHER PART OF YOU, WE APOLOGIZE!"

"You WHAT?! Why did you punch him?" Summer inquired her husband. "Because him and his team dug your body up and took it somewhere! Our actions are justified for the respect for the dead!" He said, before realizing how weird that sentence sounded, along with everyone in the room.

"Okay…" Summer turned to the red-clothed members, an unreadable expression on her face. In a blink of an eye, she disappeared in a flash of white rose petals, similar to that of her daughter's semblance, and a bright red hand print is seen on the cheeks of every RED Team members in the room. She appeared back in her spot, and slapped her hands together, imitating getting rid of the dust. "That, was for digging my grave up." She smirked. "And this, is for resurrecting me." She said as she bowed.

"Heh, no problem."

"Me not drunk enough…"

The Engineer's face lighted up. "Speaking of fights…" He slowly turned to Pyro, who was busy observing a matchstick. Flames danced on the tip of the stick, casting a small light on the lenses of the Pyro's gasmask. The Engineer angrily stomped his way to the Pyro, snatched the match away, and extinguished it. The Pyro's gaze stayed on the same spot for a second, before slowly turning to the Engineer menacingly.

"Hgh huh mmph hmph hp." Summer and her family narrowed their eyes at Pyro's undecipherable statement, before turningto the Medic to ask. "What did he say?" The Medic faced her with a dark face. "He said,"

"Oh you had done it."

 **12 Seconds Later**

"Are you sure we should not help him?" Summer said while looking at the Pyro and the Engineer. "Nein."

Taiyang was looking disgusted.

Yang's face was painted with horror.

Summers' face was filled with sympathy, oh and horror as well.

Finally, Ruby was covering her own eyes.

In front of them, the Pyro and the Engineer are having a battle. It actually should be called a one sided massacre. Blood covered both combatants, but the blood was the Texan's. Even though the four Remnant natives were shocked at the bloody fight, the three other ex-members of RED were looking on to the fight with smiles.

Spy was sipping an expensive wine, Demoman was drinking a bottle of scrumpy, and the Medic is drinking a bottle of beer stolen from the Engi, with his Medigun slung over his torso. "No, this is too fun to watch." The Spy replied as he sipped another drink, savoring the sweet taste of fine wine. "I agree, lad."

The Medic took out his crusader's crossbow and fired a bolt at the Engineer, restoring him to full health. Summer jumped back, and shot the Medic a deathly glare. "Why did you shoot him?"

"Oh! Mom, they are from an alternate dimension of some sorts! Or world, I forgot." Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly after saying the last sentence. Summer's eye widened, and looked at the three other RED team members. "I-Is this true?"

The Demoman did not reply and pulled out a map. The map was one of the Earth in 1969, showing all continents. Summer slowly nodded as she focused on the fight in front of her, deciding to ask questions later.

After taunting the Engineer a few times, the Pyro moved in for the kill. The Pyro aimed his Degreaser at the Engineer, and tapped the trigger, shooting out a small puff of flame, but sufficiently big enough to engulf the poor man in flames. As the Engineer screamed at the searing pain coursing through his bodies, Pyro sadistically laughed, making the Remnant natives cringe. After a few agonizing seconds for the Engineer, the Pyro pressed another trigger, different from the one it just used, blasting a gust of compressed air.

The air hit the Engineer hard, sending him flying through the air, flames still dancing on his body. The Pyro paid no heed as he dropped his Degreaser and pulled out the Flare Gun in his left hand, and the Reserve Shooter in his right hand. Time seemed to slow down for the Pyro as he took careful aim. After lining up the shots, the Pyro pulled both triggers.

The Engineer screamed in agony as the Reserve Shooter's bullets struck his body, tearing through his lungs. After a short millisecond, another scream escaped his mouth as the flare connected with him, and with the help of some unknown chemicals that even he did not know of, the flare erupted into flames, dealing immense damage and pain to the poor Texan.

But his ordeal is not finished yet, for the Pyro once again dropped its weapons and used his right hand to retrieve his Axetinguisher, a trusty sharpened stone fragment tied to a wooden poke with barbed wire, and held it over where the Engineer sis going to land, with the sharp end facing upwards.

With a sickly crunch, and flinches of the nearby family, the Engineer landed on top of the axe head, earning a bloodcurdling scream. The Pyro then slammed the axe down into the ground, making the now-lifeless body squirt even more blood, and yanked the axe out. The Pyro looked at the bloodied axe, and to the dead body, then shrugging. It plunged the axe into the Engineer's body over and over again, until the entire axe head is covered in warm blood.

Finally, and for good(?) measure, the pyromaniac pulled out a car battery-hammer, the Powerjack, and slammed it into the Engineer's head, splattering his brains all over the grass.

" _ **I'll clean that up later."**_ The Pyro said in a very deep, menacing, scary, genderless and raspy tone, muffled to the point of barely able to be heard by the respirator. As the Pyro walked away, the Medic activated his Medigun and revived the Engineer, who muttered something along the lines of, 'Not doing that ever again.'.

Oh and, the Rose Xiao Long family learned one thing.

" _Do_ _not_ _get on their bad side. Ever."_ They all simultaneously thought.

 **A/N: Wait, let me clean the blood off my hands first… Done! As you noticed, or not, that I used 'it' when referring to Pyro, as we all know, we don't know it's gender. See, I used 'it' again! Also, IM BACK!**

 **Ciao!**


	4. So?

**Patch**

"So, let me get this straight. _Again._ You, are from another world?"

"Yes."

"And from your world, you are mercenaries fighting a private war?"

"Yes."

"And you are fighting exact clones of yourselves?"

"Yes."

"And you ended up here by entering a-"

"Teleporter."

"Yes, and you entered this world through that? And you've hurt my children once?"

"Yes, and yes."

 **PRANG**

"C'mon Sum! I just got that window pane, and it ain't cheap!"

Outside of the house, five men laid on the ground, glass shards embedded into their faces.

"I'm starting to think that this entire family is dangerous." The Engineer muttered while holding his hand up, before plopping down into the ground again. " _Now_ you're starting to think that they're dangerous? It's already official." Spy added, plucking glass shards out of his arm and wincing at every yank.

"So… what were you saying when you said you… died?" Summer returned questioning her daughter, and still felt uncomfortable saying that word, even though she herself experienced it, and lived through it.

"Well, a few weeks ago, the enemies of the other-world mercenaries invaded Vale with the help of the White Fang. During the invasion, Beacon was attacked; my team and I were there to defend it." Summer nodded. "But after the main attack ended, I failed to notice a robot-"

"Wait, they used robots?"

"Yea, they are robots with the appearance of our new friends!" Ruby said rather excitedly, obviously thinking about the weapons they used. "As you were saying?" Summer helped.

"Yea, I failed to notice one robot behind me, and I was… decapitated in half." Summer noticeably winced at the gruesome statement. "Later, the Medic managed to revive me, albeit somehow differently than the method he used to revive you, as yours involved some… magic?"

Then, she zipped out of the house, and apologized to the poor men who suffered her motherly wrath, and helped them (painfully) remove their glass shards embedded into their skin.

"Now, we'll take you to Patch's hospital and I'll just say you lot had an accident and need to get-" Her face turned into a smug smirk.

Ruby had a face of horror. "Mom, no… NO!"

"-All _Patched_ up! Eh?"

"Now I see where Yang got her horrible puns from…" The ex-RED mercs said in unison. Said person and her male fatherly counterpart were on the floor clutching their stomachs, crying out in laughter, adding more tear lines to the already dried tear-face of the blondes.

"Back to the original point, we don't need to go to the hospital. One of us is called 'Medic' for a reason." Once Engineer mentioned his name, the German pulled out his Medigun and proceeded to heal his friends, healing fluid closing all the wounds instantly.

"This… This is magic!" Summer exclaimed, eyes as wide as plates. "How did you do that?!" Medic turned towards her, while he activated the Medigun on himself. "Do you really vant to know?" Summer nodded excitedly. Medic leaned in forwards and whispered in her ear. After a second or so, her face contorted into utter disgust and discomfort.

The next minute for her was spent in the bathroom, sounds of puking violently clearly heard by the others outside.

"What did you tell Sum that made her react this violently?" Taiyang asked, eyes not leaving the bathroom door. Medic sighed and repeated the same question again, to which Taiyang nodded.

"Hey Sum, care if I join?" The words of Taiyang were heard before being followed up by violent vomiting. Spy mentally reminded himself to abide by the self-promise he made a long time ago.

After a few more minutes, Summer and her husband finally emerged from the bathroom, with a shade of green covering their faces. "I regret asking that question." The Rose murmured, just loud enough to be heard by her daughters.

"What did he say?"

"You don't want to know, Rubes."

A few more minutes later, the couple and their children finally settled down and were sitting in the sofa, with Team R.E.D. sitting opposite them.

Taiyang was the first to start. "Now that we got over our… reunion, we have to discuss matters now. First, why, and what did you do to revive my wife?" The Medic raised his hand and spoke.

"I called in a 'friend' of mine, and asked him to use magic to resurrect Summer Rose. At first, he refused but promptly shut up and did the job after I offered a gold bar to him. Actually, it vasn't really gold anyways, it's just aluminum painted gold!" He said with a laugh at the end. The others just nodded, while Summer just inspected her hands.

"Anyways, after he revived you, you vere still a skeleton, nothing more." Cue shocked gasps from the Rose/Xiao Long family. "Strangely, you were breathing even though you had no lungs." The Medic continued as he pointed a finger towards said person. "So, not vanting to scare you all zo death vith a living, breathing skeleton who claims to be your long lost wife or mother, I decided to apply healing liquid with my Medigun to heal the skin and body back, and voila!" He ended with a dramatic gesture to Summer, earning him a few snickers from his teammates.

"So… Now that we know _how_ you did it, but _why_? Why resurrect me? I mean, I appreciate it and…" Summer continued rambling, slightly reminiscent of her youngest daughter, before the Engineer raised his hand and cut her mid-sentence.

"We just wanted to thank your daughters for helping us when we arrived in this world, and of course, _not_ killing us for what we did when we first met?" Summer and Taiyang glared at him. "What did you do?" They said menacingly.

"Medic administered a shit-ton of anesthetic to Yang and Pyro here," The man said with a shudder. "Blasted Ruby into a shipping container, knocking her out cold." He continued, gesturing towards each person he talked about. Summer and her husband still seemed angry, but they were definitely less than earlier.

"So… now what about your… grave?" Taiyang said, while Summer shrugged. "I guess just throw it away." Demoman stopped drinking and looked up with his one good eye. "Do ya' want it tae' be blown up?"

"That's okay… I guess." Summer replied. Then, Demoman smiled a smile which would rival even Ruby's dark smile, making everyone except his team cringe in discomfort.

 **1 Hour Later**

"You done yet Scotsman?" Engi called out, receiving a 'Ya' as a response. He plopped himself down in the Rancho-Relaxo-5000 and grabbed a beer. The Remnant natives look confused, before a bright light shined before them.

"What the!?" Taiyang screamed as he covered his eyes from the bright explosion. Summer however, took up a defensive stance, while her biological daughter, Ruby, hid behind Yang, who had the same look of shock as her sister's. In the distance, a loud cheering sound is heard, while a trail of fire and smoke followed an object in the sky.

"WHOOOHOOOO!"

And said object plopped into the ground in front of the mercenaries and the family, making both sides jump a good feet into the air out of shock, with Taiyang making an un-manly sound.

"That, my lads, was FUN!" Demoman yelled as he took another bottle of Scottish-made fine whiskey from his back treasure chest, and chugging it down. Summer shifted back to her usual relaxed stance, albeit still slightly stiff.

"HE DID THAT WITHOUT DYING?!" Taiyang screamed out, startling the others again. Demoman laughed before taking another gulp, and replying the man's question. "Actually, our nurse here helped ma' by shooting a CC bolt while a' was in the air." Taiyang looked over to the Medic, and indeed, the Medic was holstering his Crusader's Crossbow.

"At least I zidn't miss!" Medic's remark made everyone chuckle a bit, with the young girls glancing at the mercenaries.

 **Meanwhile**

The Forest of Patch. One of the most beautiful forests the Kingdom of Vale had ever seen, located around the island of Patch. But like all things, this particular forest, hides a dark side.

Deep within the forest, the sound of bones crunching could be heard crystal clearly, with the smell of blood accompanying it. In a certain area, a lone Beowolf is happily munching away at its latest catch, a human. The sharp teeth of the Beowolf tore through the soft exposed flesh of the lifeless unfortunate hiker. Her supplies lay scattered around the area, along with her companion.

The other hiker was given a more gruesome death, for his entire torso was separated, letting all the blood and organs spilling out onto the green grass. His head was mutilated beyond horribly, making the authority's job of identifying them much harder.

As if, they are going to find their body to identify, that is.

As the Grimm was happily tearing the flesh out of where they should belong, a throbbing feeling emerged in its cold heart. The Grimm paid it no heed and continued feeding. Soon, the dull throbbing turned into a full blown heart attack, and the Grimm howled out in pain. A red aura seemed to emanate from its body, before the light died down, and the Grimm was given a new form.

Instead of the boring red and black color scheme, the body of the Grimm was now larger, scarier, and more menacing. The head of the Grimm grew a large boneplate, and the normal black of the torso became a dark red, with boneplates covering the flanks. On top of that, a red light seemed to be curving around the Grimm's body.

 _Aura_

And in its mind, only one thought played out.

 _ **KILL THE WHITE REAPER**_

 **Patch**

"They are getting more daring, aren't they?" Engineer asked the couple, who were standing in the grass area. "They've never been this far out of the forest." The blonde answered. Summer looked around before turning to her children.

"Get inside, you'll be safe."

"Uh, mom? Did you forget? We're huntresses now! Rubes and I can take on the Grimm any day!"

"A vise man once said, 'Never underestimate your opponent'. Even though you may be skilled, you never know how powerful they are. Get inside, ve'll handle zis. Summer, you get in as vell."Medic said as he pulled out the Blutsauger and pumped a cartridge filled with cyanide-dipped syringes into it.

"No! I refuse. I will stay and fight, I must protect my children." Summer said proudly. Medic sighed, before nodding.

Ruby and Yang looked hesitant, but soon got inside. As she was about to enter, Ruby turned to her mother.

"You won't leave us again, right…?"

"… Right, little Rose." Summer said with a smile, before remembering one crucial fact. "Hey Tai, where's my weapon?"

"Oh your weapon? I'll go get it, it's in the attic." He answered as he rushed into the house.

"So what weapon do you use?" Spy asked as he clicked the hammer on his Ambassador. Summer chuckled, before saying 'nope', popping the 'p'. This made Engineer chuckle at the old saying, as he loaded in a clip for his pistol. "What's your semblance?" She asked in return.

"Uh, other world, remember? So no semblance. Ain't got Aura s'well." Engineer replied. Summer nodded, before giving them a concerned look. Soon, Taiyang rushed out, a large rectangular box in hand. As soon as the man opened it, Summer's eyes started to gleam.

Inside, the box was filled with hay. Resting on the hay was a bow. Not an ordinary bow, but a bad-ass-mother-fucking-awesome-Grimm-ass-kicking bow, made out of metal alloy and sporting a white and red paintjob. To the ex-RED Team members, the bow vaguely resembled that of the Sniper's Fortified Compound. On the bow, a small scope was attached, with x4 magnification and red dot sight. A red tactical laser was also attached to the body, connected by wires to a small dust battery pack.

Next to the bow, was a large arrow holder. It was filled to the brim with arrows made out of dust-enhanced steel alloys, with tips made of chromium steel. Small spaces were visible in the arrowheads, signifying that was where the dust goes.

"Oh my sweet baby, I missed you…" Summer silently muttered.

"Now I know vere Ruby gets her weapon fanatism." Spy said grimly. A loud howl prompted Summer to quickly holster the arrows and notched an arrow into place before pulling the string back, ready to shoot at anything big, black, white and scary.

What came out of the forest was anything but black. It was a Grimm shaped creature, with the normal black covering the majority of its body being replaced by a very dark shade of red. It's still big and scary though, topped off with a menacing figure.

"What the hell is that!?" Taiyang screamed as he reared his fist back and prepared to punch the creature to oblivion. The fist connected, but it did nothing but push the creature back a few measly feet. It roared, and charged forward, bearing fangs.

 _ **Twang!**_

The arrow was let loose, and it soared through the air, hitting the beast right in the eye. As it was busy prying the arrow out, Taiyang took the chance and punched the arrow further in, making the creature let out a bloodcurdling cry of pain. However, it seemed undeterred and continued attacking, even while having only one good eye.

Spy aimed his Ambassador and pulled the trigger, sending a high-caliber round flying out of the barrel and into the brain of the supposed Grimm. For good measure, Taiyang punched it away, in fear of it attacking even while severely crippled. For _even_ more good measure, the Demoman set three stickybombs around the body, and detonated it, disintegrating the body and made everyone fly a good few inches off the ground.

"Just what type of Grimm is that? A new species?" Tai asked, and the response he got was a few absent-minded shrugs. Summer lowered her bow, but an arrow was still notched in place, ready to fly out and ruin someone or something's day. In this case, that dead Grimm. Another howl sounded, startling everyone. Soon, the group has been surrounded, with ten of those strange Grimm-like creatures snarling around them.

As one roared, the others charged forward.

Summer was fast, and despite her recent resurrection, she jumped gracefully into the air and notched two more arrows to her bow, and let loose the string. Three beasts ended up with an arrow to the head. Taiyang grinned maniacally while his tattoo flared up, emanating a blue aura. He punched a creature, which pedaled back and avoided the fist, just to get hit by another right hook, throwing it a few feet off. A beast saw its chance and pounced on the man when his back was turned, only to get sliced in half by a sword.

"A' got ya six!" Demoman yelled as he pulled out his grenade launcher and fired a pill at a beast that just emerged from the bushes, making it explode into a million pieces. He blocked an attack with his shield, before stabbing the attacker with his Eyelander. In the corner of his good eye, he saw a beast charging towards him. Well, his sword was stuck in another beast's head, and his shield is on the ground. 'Great! Now I wait until Nurse revives me.' He thought, only to have the beast blasted meters away.

The Pyro laughed, and ran over to the downed beast. As it went, the Pyro ignited a few of these beasts on fire, before finally making its way to the downed beast. The Pyro then sadistically carved a deep gash into the torso of the creature slowly, while shooting away would-be interrupters of its torture session with its Reserve shooter. The battle almost paused comically, all of the Remnant natives, human or not, stared at the Pyro with looks of disgust and horror. Even the creatures looked disturbed. After a few seconds of relative silence, the battle moved on.

The Spy shot another creature, the round tearing right into the brain, shutting down all bodily functions of it. Finding that his Ambassador is empty, he punched the used rounds out and proceeded to place in unused ones in their place. While he was clicking the cylinder back in, a hand knocked his revolver away. On instinct, the Spy reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his knife, and held it in a slashing position. Turning around, the beast who smacked his weapon away revealed itself, with a large clawed paw **(Hey that rhymes!)** headed towards his head. Spy lifted his knife, and stabbed it into the approaching paw, before yanking it out and stabbing it into the creatures heart while it roared in pain. As it was dropping down to the floor, the Spy swiftly stabbed the cold steel into the beast's neck before pulling it out at lightning speeds, and dashing over to his gun. Immediately after he picked his gun up, he lifted it and fired a shot.

The beast behind the Engineer was dead, and to confirm it, the Engineer shot an 8-gauge shotgun slug at it. As he turned around, another beast tried to pounce on him. "NOT A CHANCE!" He screamed, and elbowed the beast in the jaw before shooting it full of lead. He pumped the pump on his shotgun, and proceeded to shoot another in the head. After shooting a few more creatures, he found out that his shotgun ran out of ammo for its clip. As he loaded in more shells, he felt a very unpleasant feeling emanating from behind him. Turning around, he saw a beast's head right up in his nose, snarling. He quickly pulled out his pistol, which has been painted a brownish-black, and shot it a few times. The low-caliber bullets did nothing but dent the face boneplate, and the beast opened its jaw.

Only to have a large bonesaw stuck inside of its throat. The Medic yanked his Ubersaw out, and nodded at the Engineer. After checking his Ubersaw's extracted energy, he pulled his trusty Blutsauger out and fired a burst at a nearby creature. The cyanide-tipped syringes injected their contents into the creature's bloodstream. Almost immediately, the already cold heart of the creature turned icy as the cyanide did its job, stopping the heart entirely.

After a few more minutes of fighting, Ruby fired a shot at the last remaining beast with her Crescent Rose, killing it instantly. Mid-way during the fight, Ruby and her sister rushed out of the house to help their parents and teachers out, much to the dismay and shock of their parents.

"We gotta find out what type a' Grimm they are. Look, their bodies don't disintegrate." The Engineer pointed out, receiving nods from the others.

"Whatever these creatures are, we should report this to the authorities." Summer suggested, as she slung her bow over her head. "Oh and, young lady! I thought I told you both to stay inside?" Summer asked sternly at her daughters, who smiled sheepishly, save for Yang. "We just wanted to help, that's all…?" Ruby muttered as she rubbed the back of her head. Without warning, Summer pulled them both into a hug, surprising both of the sisters.

"Don't do that again." Summer said as she hugged them tighter.

By the side, the Demoman had been watching intently as he cleaned his grenade launcher.

"Family. Huh. Ey, I'll visit me mother soon." He said under his breath, so quiet that nobody except himself heard.

 **Dragon Continent – Unmapped sector**

She was here. How?

 _HOW!?_

This is impossible. She killed her, all those years ago. Her blood was spilled on her very own hands, her very own pale hands.

Now, her and her friends managed to defeat the Blood Grimm without as much as a sweat!

They were a threat.

And what do I do with threats?

 _I end them_

 **A/N: First off, I apologize a million and one times for not uploading for nearly an entire week! By the time you read this, my internet should be fixed. My ISP fucked some shit up and resulted in my internet being fucked sideways for a week. This chapter was written during those times where I got bored of playing Besiege, RWR and offline CSGO.**

 **I hope that the longer chapter will pay up for my absence.**

 **Now, I need to ask you all something. Is this story getting…**

… **Shittier? If so, state why and since when in the reviews, or if you prefer it, PM me.**

 **Now, here's a small omake from the Blood Grimm fight scene!**

In the blink of an eye, Summer zipped past all the Grimm, and notched five more arrows onto the string. A bit excessive, but it could work. As she pulled the string back, she heard someone yelling, but paid it no heed. After pulling it back the full length, she let the string loose. The arrows sailed through the air at breakneck speeds, and all the creatures took an arrow…

… To the knee. Now the shouting was clear, and the creatures writhed in pain.

" **FUS RO DAH!"**

The second the words were heard, everyone, including the creatures, were propelled up into the air, and flung sideways towards the East. A man in armor walked out of the forest, and looked up towards the flying figures.

"Guess I used too much power that time. Eh, no matter. Now, where in Skyrim am I?" The man said before walking off.

 **If you can't guess what game the stranger is from, he's from the** _ **Elder Scrolls**_ **. Well, goodbye!**


	5. A little Something To Do

**Vale**

"Vale… been a while since I've been here." Summer silently mumbled, as she rocked in the car which Spy, our licensed backstabber, drove. Apparently, Spy had bought himself a luxury car with his ridiculous salary without informing his team, or anyone, actually. Of course, except for the car salesman.

"Remind me why are we out here again?" Tai asked from the backseat, next to Summer. Spy sighed and answered him. "After ve called the authorities, they requested us to come here for questioning, as the police station in Patch is not, I quote, 'sufficiently secure'. Also, you can't just wear these clothes forever." Tai nodded, satisfied, and continued to talk to Summer.

After a few turns, Spy stopped the car and exited it, walking into a shop a few meters ahead. The couple followed him in, but not before noticing the sign. "How do I even pronounce that?" Summer asked as she tried to make words out of the very, _very_ Italic (Or what it's called in Remnant, anyways) writing engraved on the overhead sign.

As they walked in, they saw Spy looking at a few expensive-looking suites, examining them with a sharp eye. The couple looked around the shop, and they could only see suits, dresses, cloaks, jeans, and all other means of clothing displayed neatly around the shop.

"Look around, choose any clothing that you want. That applies for you as well, Mr. Xiao Long." Spy said, eyes never leaving the suit in his hands. The man nodded, and pulled his wife by the hand to the ladies section. The deaged Summer was practically dragged along, her small stature did not help at all.

After a few minutes, the couple got what they wanted, and prepared to pay, until a gloved hand stopped them. "No need, I will pay." Spy stated, before handing his scroll over to the cashier, who just used a scanner and scanned the device, and handing it back at the Spy. "Thank you for your purchase." The cashier said with a smile.

"Here, I'll pay you back." Said Tai as he walked out of the shop.

"No need."

"Why?" Taiyang inquired, his face a funny expression.

"I have to spend some money, if I don't then my bank account is going to be so fat that the police will start to suspect me." Spy answered dryly. Before Taiyang could say anything, Summer's scroll dinged, signifying an incoming text.

Ruby, being the geek she is, managed to fix her scroll, bringing it up to functional status. Even though it is usable, it still wasn't aesthetically pleasing. The screen was cracked, and the plastic was dented, with some of the paint scratching off.

" _Mom, are you alright?"_ The message came from Ruby. Summer quickly typed back a response, noticing she had been texting her every ten minutes. ' _Guess she was worried I might leave her again, after years.'_

This time, Spy's scroll ringed, as he quickly reached into his suit pocket and answered the call. "Hello?"

" _Ozpin here. Now, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"_

"No, what is it?"

" _I have received information from one of my Huntsmen on a possible White Fang hideout. I need you and your team to investigate the lead."_

"Consider it done. When do we depart?"

" _I'll send you the details later through text. Have a good day."_ The call disconnected as Spy let out an exasperated sigh.

"Who's that?" Summer asked. Spy flicked open his cigarette case and pulled a stick of cancer out, his other hand reaching into his pocket and pulling out a lighter. "Ozpin. Said a mission needs to be done." He replied as he lit the cigarette between his mouth.

"Huh, Ozpin. The last time I met him he was the Headmaster of Beacon. How's the old man now?"

"Still the same." Spy answered quickly. "Now hop on, I've got a mission to carry out with my team."

 **Vale, Old Slums**

"This is it…"

"Alrighty boys, let's do this."

The bullhead left immediately after dropping the team off, hoping to get off unnoticed by any possible enemies. The team did what they were tasked, and snuck between buildings, all the while keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. They soon reached an old office block.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Spy's keen eye spotted a glimmer of light in one of the alleyways. He motioned his team to stop, and pulled his binoculars out. He looked into the eyepiece and tried to make out the light.

"It's too far away, we need to get closer." He informed the rest of his team, who nodded. The Demoman and the Medic stayed position, while Spy, Pyro and the Engineer moved forward slowly.

"Hey! Josh! Don't sleep on the job!" Someone quietly shouted, startling the team. The three R.E.D. members quickly ducked behind a nearby trash container, hoping the unknown voice did not see them. Spy slowly peeked his head out, taking a good look at the one talking.

The man wore the White Fang outfit, and had a Dust SMG cradled in his hands. Peeking his out a little more, he saw that the glimmer of light was coming from another militant's gun, who was sleeping soundly.

"Sorry boss, won't happen again." The sleeping White Fang member said boringly, clearly having repeated this situation dozens of times.

"I hope so, for your own goddamn sake!" The other member almost shouted, before leaving the lazy gunman alone and walking off into the office building. The lone member sighed, and mumbled incoherently. He walked along the narrow alleyway, not noticing a certain red-suited gentleman following him.

"Wha-" He was cut off as the Spy covered his mouth and held a knife up to his neck. Even with the Grimm mask on, Spy could see that the militant's eyes were filled with terror. "Make a move, and you die." Spy coldly whispered into the man's ear, and pulling him down to the floor and pulling his Ambassador up to the man's temple.

"Where is the hideout."

The reply that he got was a spit to the face. "I'm telling you shit!" The man shouted. Spy cocked the hammer on the intricate revolver. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Please repeat that?" Intimidation tactics, not a stranger to Spy. Once he saw that the man intends to shout out, he knocked him out with a butt of the grip, and laid him down on the ground.

"Josh? Hey Josh?" The same voice called out. Spy immediately cloaked and hid inside a trash bin. "Josh?" The man walked out of the door, only to find a body on the ground, belonging to the militant.

"Shit! Hey Josh! You okay?!" The man tried shaking him, but the Faunus' eyelids stayed shut. "Shit, gotta alert-" Before he could finish, a crossbow bolt struck him in the neck. Instead of sending blood flying all over the place, the bolt injected a 'healthy' dose of paralysis into the militant, who promptly fell onto the ground.

Spy gave the all-clear signal to the Medic, holding a crossbow, and motioned him and the rest to converge on his position.

"Hide their bodies. And apply more paralysis." Spy whispered as he took out his Ambassador. After the two sleeping militants were hidden from sight, Spy slowly pushed open the door which the other member came from. He peeked his gun in first, before slowly going in, his team close behind.

"What are those two doing here? Are they on a solo op or some'in?" Engineer whispered quietly as he checked another corridor. Pyro 'mmphed' in response, scanning a room with his shotgun. Right now, Engineer and Pyro split up from the others to cover more ground, the duo handling the west wing of the building while the others handle the east wing. So far, nothing had been found, except for a few food rations.

"Engi here, nothing on our side. How 'bout yours?" Engineer said over the radio. " _Nein,_ we came up empty. I am starting to zink that zhose two are scouts or patrols." Medic replied. Letting out an exasperated sigh, the Engineer started to make his way to the rendezvous point, AKA where they would go if the search came up empty.

He was about a few minutes walk away from the point before the Engineer heard some noise. His hand flew up to his earpiece and checked if it was receiving any chatter from his teammates, which it isn't. He pressed the transmit button and spoke out quietly. "Engineer here, me and Pyro are gonna go check out something, wait for me at the RZ." He said before turning to the Pyro and nodding, beckoning him, _it_ to follow.

The duo slowly crept towards the source of the sound, located deeper into the building. As they walked, Pyro silently hummed a cheerful tone, filling the silent corridors with a creepy echo.

After walking for a few more moments, the noise become louder. The Engineer could now identify it as the sound of the unmistakable attaching and re-attaching of gun parts, spending years around guns can sure make you filter the sounds out. The noise was coming from a door, and the Pyro and Engineer nodded to each other before the latter slowly opened the door.

What it saw was a lone White Fang member slowly assembling and unassembling his weapon as she sat on top of a wooden crate. Her hands moved with grace, smoothly sliding the receiver and parts out in record time.

Pyro shut the door, and mumbled to the Engineer in what could only be described as gibberish, but to the Engineer, it was talking. His hand flew to his earpiece and started transmitting. "Engineer here, I need all of you to converge on my point, follow my scroll's coordinates." He whispered before pulling his hand away. "Zis is Spy, we will be there in around a minute." The response came.

After waiting for a minute or so, the rest of the team arrived and waited in the corridor. "How many are zere?" The Medic asked. "Just one." Engineer replied before looking into the eyehole in the door he did not notice before. He looked for a brief moment before snapping his head towards the team. "Make that ten." He silently muttered.

"Alright, we will need to bring them in for questioning. The police are already at the RZ, waiting for us." Spy said after the looked through the eyehole. There was a total of ten White Fang members milling around in the open courtyard the door lead to, and the female Faunus from just now was still busy with her weapon.

"Alright, I'll stun 'em." The Engineer said as he flicked a switch on his Pomsom, setting the power level to 'stun'. With a nod, the whole team busted through the door.

The ones with no weapons were brought down the quickest with a quick butt of the head or a bitch-slap from the Eyelander. The ones armed with rifles and pistols didn't even have time to raise their weapons as the Engineer and the Medic fired stun laser rounds and paralysis syringes respectively. The Medic sprayed his syringes in an arc, his Blutsauger launching dozens of syringes into the bodies of the White Fang militants.

"Alright! We did a good job, now le-" Before the Engineer could finish his sentence, a round struck him in the shoulder, the fire dust infused in the round creating a micro-explosion, sending small pieces of flesh flying off his shoulder. The Spy reacted quickly and traced where the round came from, and identified the shooter as the female Faunus from earlier just as she was about to fire a round at his head.

He ducked just in time, the bullet whizzing past his head as it struck the wall behind him. He quickly aligned his Ambassador's sights with his target, and pulled the trigger. The piece of lead flew out from the barrel, and propelled towards the Faunus' head. Just as the bullet was about to impact, it was stopped by an invisible force, which showed itself a millisecond after the bullet impacted it, as it blinked and faded.

The bullet was thrown off course when it hit the female's Aura, going wide and hitting the wooden crate located behind her back, tearing a small hole through it. The woman stumbled and fell backwards. As she did, the Spy rushed over and knocked her out with a hard fist to the face, _gentlemanly._

The Medic looked at the cold body of the Faunus, before quickly realizing something and pulled his Medigun out. He rushed over to the downed Engineer and kneeled in front of him, who was starting to bleed out and groan in pain. The German pushed the handle, and the beam reached the pained man. Instantly, the Engineer's wound began closing, before finally fixing the skin, but not before the bullet was pushed out.

"T-Thanks, doc." The Engineer said as he pushed himself up. "Ja." The Medic responded with a grin. After fixing himself up, they began to round up the White Fang. The Demoman took out zip-ties and tied every unconscious member's hand together. After doing so, they notified the police and let them take the bodies away.

The mercenaries oversaw the transport of the captives into the prison transports, and kept a lookout for any suspicious activity. Just as the truck was about to drive away, the female Faunus gave the Engineer a look of… something, he didn't know. She just stared at him, until the policeman shut the metal door and drove away.

"Hmph." He didn't care for it, and marched back to his teammates. "So, should we go back to Ozpin and report this?" He asked.

"Or we ca' go and enjoy a nice dinner. I know a good shop 'round here, we could try it." Demoman suggested. Through some weird magic of fate, or some shit, everyone's stomachs started rumbling, accenting the drunkard's suggestion.

"Yea, lets go." Medic stated.

 **Meanwhile, In Another Realm**

"Bidwell, how's our business going?" A man sat on his chair, legs crossed and placed on top of his table. His left hand is singlehandedly wrestling with a polar bear, as the white monster's hand's veins start to pop out, yet the Australian barely flinched. His other hand is holding a beef steak, chomping it down.

"Well, sir, our sales have increased by 12.94%, and out of 8.21% of that came from hat sales." A neatly-dressed man stated as he looked down at the clipboard he held in his hands, seemingly unfazed by the fact that his boss, is wrestling a _Polar Bear_ in his office, as if it happened on a constant basis.

"Perfect! Now book a trip to the Badlands, I want to fight some sand creatures." The Australian continued, as his left hand gave a quick twirl, taking the Polar Bear's hands with it. The bear whimpered in pain as its hands were now bent into shapes it should not be bent into.

"Where to sir?" The butler said as he pulled out a small phone.

"Anywhere, as long it's in the Badlands. My eight-pack biceps are itching to fight some desert creatures!" He loudly exclaimed.

"Method of transportation?"

"Airplane." The man answered.

"Parachute?"

"Of course not, who do you think I am?"

"Yes si-" The butler was cut off as the Australian rose to his full height, chest puffed out and standing straight. At this sight, the Polar Bear bolted and crashed out the window. A loud 'My car!' could be heard, but the man didn't care.

"I am," He turned around, and jumped after the Polar Bear.

" _SAAAAAXTOOOOOON HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!"_

Poor bear.

 **A/N: So, uh, kill me? I'M SORRY! DON'T HURT ME! I would give the excuse of school but you would know I am giving you the wrong bill, because you sure didn't buy that bullshit. Instead, I am going to give a better excuse.**

 **I played too much TF2.**

 **And the fact that my computer won't accept keyboards for a week straight probably matters.**

 **Reviews:**

 _ **Goldenspartan86:**_ **Yes, Archimedes will be in the story, I just need a way to introduce him/her. Also, what do you mean by 'the original mercy'? Yes, I know about the Scout's special death bird.**

 _ **TwindraFrost:**_ **Ok…**

 **Bye! AND I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER WON'T TAKE AS LONG!**


	6. For Science!

**I realized I haven't done this in a while, so here it is.**

 **I DO NOT OWN RWBY AND OR TEAM FORTRESS 2, THEY ARE THE PROPERTY OF COCK BITE AND LORD GABEN RESPECTIVELY**

 **Beacon – Ozpin's Office**

"Welcome, gentlemen. I take that the investigation went smoothly?" Ozpin stated as he sipped his coffee, from his probably omnipresent coffee mug. The R.E.D. Team huffed and sat down on the chairs arranged in front of the intricate table.

"If 'smoothly' meant finding a contingent of White Fang soldiers milling 'bout, yeah. I say it went mighty smoothly." Engineer said. Ozpin put his cup down and pulled out a scroll. "Anything else you found?" They shook their heads slowly. "I see."

"Now if you will excuse me, I have matters to attend to. You may return to whatever your doing." The headmaster said as he wrote something in his scroll. The team said their goodbyes and walked into the elevator, barely fitting in five people at once.

"So, what ya'll gonna do?" Demoman asked his teammates. "I don't know, though I would like to run some experiments. Say, doc, you care to help me test something out?" Engineer turned to the Medic, who gave a thumbs up and a wicked grin.

"What 'bout you, Spy?" The Scotsman asked. Spy answered him after a short moment. "I'll be taking a spin around the city in my car." He replied coldly, voice completely betraying any sense of emotion. This is what happens when you are trained to stab people in the back literally after making them think you are a friend.

"You, Demo?" Medic inquired the demolitions expert/fanatic. "I'll go grab some scrumpeh from the Crow Bar in town." Medic nodded at his answer.

"Pyro?" Spy in turn asked our resident maniac/friend-making/ 'friend'-making/pyromaniac/alien/female/male man-thing in a plastic suit. It muttered something in response, and the team understood what it meant.

"Well, go to your destinations." Engineer said as the elevator door opened. Spy and Demo took a bullhead to Vale while Pyro… It blew a few balloons, and jumped off the cliff, and flew off into the (Imaginary) sunset, Mary Poppins style. Spy swore he could hear some music in the background when that happened. As for the Medic and Engineer, they got on to another waiting Bullhead and taxied over to Patch, where Ruby and her family is located.

 **Patch**

"So vaht are ve going to do, my friend?" Medic said as they disembarked the Bullhead. Engineer grinned and told the mad doctor they were going to experiment on weapons and dust, since they never really had the chance to do so while they were so busy as teacher assistants. They hailed a taxi and went back to the house Ruby lives in.

"Hey guys- Where's the others?" Ruby asked while opening the door for the two REDs. "We both came back to do some experiments, and the others went to do their own thing in and around the city." Engineer answered the hyperactive girl.

"Oooh, what experiment is that?"

Medic answered for the Engineer. "Weapons and dust."

""CAN I COME ALONG?!"" Two voices simultaneously shouted, strong enough to shake the wooden house a bit. The two men nearly got blown off their feet by Summer's and Ruby's combined excited voices. "JESUS CHRIST LADIES! No need to shout THAT loud!"

"Sorry! Just got excited!" Ruby said just as Summer _literally_ appeared out of nowhere in a pile of white roses, sounding off another frightened 'JESUS CHRIST' from the Engineer.

"Is zat your semblance?" Medic asked Summer, still apologizing to the Engineer for scaring the crap out of him. "Oh? Yes! I can 'blink', basically teleport instantly to a place not more than ten meters away from my position!" The mother answered cheerfully. Medic nodded in understanding. "So can I-" Summer looks at Ruby, "-We participate in your experiment?" She asked nicely.

After a second of consideration, "Eh, why the hell not. Ya' fine with that, doc?" The Medic nodded in response. "Just don't touch anything expensive looking. Not that money is a problem anyways." He added the last part under his breath, going unheard by the others in the room. After gathering all the materials and apparatus, they headed to an empty clearing in the forest nearby, and started the experiment.

"Alright ladies, stand back." Engineer said while unholstering his 9mm pistol and aiming down the sights towards a block of cement just a few centimeters wide. "Okay, weapons hot!" He squeezed the trigger, activating the gun's mechanisms. The cartridge inside exploded, and sent a 9x19mm round flying through and out of the barrel. The projectile covered the distance between the man and the cement block within fractions of a second, burying the full-metal jacketed round within the cement.

"Wow those guns of yours are loud." Summer silently muttered. Engineer holstered his pistol and walked over to a nearby table, picking up a Fire Dust-based round. The words '9x19mm' engraved onto the bottom of the round. The Engineer then picked up another pistol, identical to the one he used earlier and ejected the clip. He loaded in the lone round, and snapped the clip back into the gun. He walked back to the spot he was standing just a minute ago, and once again aligned the sights up with another block of cement. "GO!" Medic shouted from the camera he was manning, and the Engineer pulled the the bullet impacted the cement block, a small burst of fire exploded from the round, creating small cracks in the block.

"Wow, that was quiet!" The Engineer exclaimed, and went over to the blocks of cement. He checked the gunpowder based round first, and discovered that the 9x19mm Dust-based round had less penetrating power than the gunpowder one. The Dust-based round is also significantly more quieter than it's counterpart. Now, the Engineer switched the Red Dust round with an Ice round, and put it into the clip. He repeated the process with Wind Dust and finally Earth Dust. He fired all the 9x19mm rounds and recorded the results.

The end result was that gunpowder based rounds have higher penetration, and overall better power. But, the Dust-based rounds have much more versatility, and fare better against fleshy targets than armored targets. The reason for that is because the amount of red Dust, or Fire Dust used to propel the bullet cannot exceed a certain point, or else risk the chance of discharging the round without warning. Thus, Dust rounds cannot break the sound barrier.

Dust of the manufacturer's choice is infused within the bullet, creating different effects. Fire Dust creates a small explosion upon impact, and is used as the main propellant for the Dust rounds. Wind Dust can increase the speed of the round and generally produce less recoil when fired. Ice Dust is usually not used in the making of Dust rounds, but when it is, its commonly used as a non-lethal round. Finally, Earth Dust is very good at creating shockwaves.

Of course, there's still a _shit ton_ of different Dust combinations that could be utilized, mixing the effects together or outright creating a unique effect.

"Alright, next test. Medic, set it up, will ya?" Medic nodded, and moved away from his camera. He set up a Square device on a table, and moved away quickly. Once he cleared a few meters, he pulled out a small contraption and pressed the button on it. The device began whirring and out popped a large semi-translucent screen, colored with a tint of red.

"Whooo!" Both the females on site stared at the device, but their attention was quickly shifted when the Texan hauled a large rectangular object. They did not need to scrutinize it and could instantly tell it was a machine gun, a _sexy_ one even.

"Let's see how good your shield is, doc!" Without warning, the Engineer pulled the trigger and out came a hail of bullets, all directed towards the red glowing shield. The Roses by the sidelines are both drooling majorly, a large puddle of drool at their feet.

The MG 42's bullets peppered against the shield, but it still held. After firing the entire drum empty, the Engineer ejected the drum and popped in a new one, before firing it again. Halfway through the drum, the shield cracked and finally exploded into small pieces, disintegrating the moment they hit the ground.

"Alright! Good job, Med, that's a damn good shield!" Engineer commented, as Medic picked up his device and stashed it away in a box. Ruby suddenly appeared right next to the Engineer, who was still carrying the LMG. "WHOA! Careful there, Ruby!" Summer walked towards Ruby, seeing she did not budge from her spot next to the Texan.

"Ruby…" Summer sternly muttered, causing Ruby to back up sheepishly. "Sorry…"

Suddenly, Summer Rose did a full 180 and gave the Engineer the ultimate weapon of mass destruction:

 _Puppy Eyes_

"Could I take a look at that?" She said, pointing at the MG 42, eyes glimmering and a thin line of saliva dripping from her open mouth. "Uhh… N-No…" Summer increased the puppy eyes power by tenfold.

After a grueling ten seconds (For the Engineer, at least), the power of the puppy eyes finally prevailed, as the Engineer reluctantly handed her the beautifully crafted art of German engineering. "Medic." Said man looked at the Engineer. "I'm gonna go kill myself over there, make sure to revive me." Medic nodded with a smirk on his face.

"Wait, he meant that as a joke, right?" Summer finally asked after she cradled the weapon.

"No."

"Nein."

When she opened her mouth to speak, a 'Bang' sounded throughout the forest. The Medic seemed entirely unfazed by the sound, while both weapon fanatics jumped and looked at the Engineer, who was face-planted in the dirt. A heartbeat. Two. Summer almost screamed, but the Medic held up his hand to silence her. Smirking, he pulled out his Medigun and walked over to his corpse. He aimed it, and pressed the handle.

A few seconds later, the man backed away from the recent suicide-e who began to get up, rubbing his head in slight pain.

"Really, I should not be surprised anymore." Engineer chuckled at Summer, who had her mouth wide open. Ruby reached a hand out and closed her mouth, comically making a metal sound.

Soon, the Engineer and the Medic finished packing up their apparatus. The group slowly trudged through the forest, with the Medic behind them pushing a trolley filled with the experiments materials while humming an old German tune. Ruby and Summer caught up with each other, constantly chatting and occasionally hugging each other.

"Damn, now I can't really distinguish from Ruby or Summer now, you both look like clones of each other!"

"Like mother like daughter, Engi." Summer stated, earning a nod from the man. "If you vear Ruby's clozes, I zink even Yang vill be fooled!" Medic shouted from behind, making the Rose duo giggle.

"You know, why don't we try that?" Summer smiled mischievously, an even more mischievous glint in her silver pupils.

 **10 Minutes Later**

'Knock'

"Coming!" Yang got up from the couch and walked over to the door and opened it. The view that greeted her was Ruby, Summer, Engineer and Medic. "Hey guys! How'd the experiment go?"

"Pretty successful, now that we have _very_ good shielding technology." Engineer informed the blonde as he sat down lazily on the cozy couch, kicking his feet up.

"And you're awfully quiet, why's that?" The brawler asked Ruby. She looked nervous for a brief millisecond before answering her sister. "Nothing, just a bit thirsty!" Her sister took the answer and continued playing on her Scroll.

The five of them sat quietly in the living room, with the Medic and the Engineer watching the news. _"-riminal Roman Torchwick has been discharged from the Valean People's Hospital, and has been brought into questioning. The interrogation took place at General Ironwood's Atlesian Cruiser under maximum security. No information has been disclosed to the public yet, but the general himself wanted to address a few matters."_

"This could be good. Or bad. Probably bad." Engineer muttered loudly, enough for everyone in the room to hear.

" _We are doing our best to help ensure the security of the Kingdom of Vale. In order to do so, I sent some of my best men to help train the newly-established VMF, the Valean Military Force. We hope-"_

"Godamnit, this is why you CLASSIFY things!" Engineer nearly shouted, clearly amazed at how stupid the general is. Meanwhile, Yang noticed that Summer and her sister is visibly trying not to laugh, but are on the brink of failing.

"Mom, sis, what's wrong? Why'd you look like you're gonna die o' laughter?" The two Roses laughed even harder now, any will of suppressing their laughter shattering. "What?!"

"N-N-Nothing! I-It's just you haven't noticed us!" 'Summer' said between laughter and wheezing, while Yang looked even more confused. "What… What?"

"I'm Ruby!" 'Summer' declared.

"And I'm Summer! Super Mom!" The fake Ruby exclaimed. They revealed they dressed up in each other's clothes, planning to pull a prank on the blonde.

"… Congratulations, Ruby. You finally pranked me." Yang said dejectedly. Summer pouted, "Hey, I helped too!"

"Yea, you too."

"Okay, who's up for some dinner?" Taiyang walked out of the kitchen, an apron with the words 'DAD COOKING' printed on the fabric. Summer giggled while everyone else voiced their agreements, even the mercenaries.

' _I have a good family, don't I?'_ Were the thoughts of the white Rose as she went into the kitchen to help her husband, pecking him on the cheek as she did so.

"Uh, Ruby? Why are you kissing me all of a sudden?" The room erupted into laughter as the day's cook stood there confusedly. They forgot to break it to him.

 **Bluirtch Village – Outside the Kingdom of Vale**

"You see anything?"

"Nah, all's clear."

"Good, don't want to be fighting Grimm now."

Two guards stood on top of the three meter high wall built out of cement and steel, as they exchanged banters with each other. Their only visible weapons are Dust assault rifles, cradled tightly in their hands, and machetes hanging off their belts.

" _This is Central, any sign of Grimm? Over."_

"Negative, all sights clear. Over."

" _Acknowledged, stay alert, over and out."_

The guard shut off his radio and continued to scan the perimeter, keeping a watchful eye for any sudden movements, though the sinking sun provided little visibility. His eyes picked up some movements to the right, and he snapped his head in the direction.

At first, nothing was out of the ordinary. But when he squinted, two pairs of red, glowing eyes could be made out. He quickly raised his rifle while turning on the radio transmitter.

"Central, I have eyes on a couple of red eyes, probably- wait, no, it _is_ Grimm, they came out in the open, over."

" _Copy, engage if they stray too close."_ The response cackled over the radio, just as the Grimm started to sprint towards the settlement. Shouting is heard, along with gunshots.

"Fuck! Yo Roz! Grimm, eleven o'clock!" Another town guard shouted, leveling his rifle against the approaching Grimm. The guard now named Roz raised his assault rifle and squeezed the trigger, firing a short burst of bullets. Surprisingly, the Grimm shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"What the- Beowolves can't take that many hits! And why are they red colored!?" He roared, just as more appeared from the forest perimeter. He ducked down and reloaded, all the while requesting support over his radio.

"Shit!"

"There's too many of 'em!" A guard shouted, emptying round after round in his assault rifle.

" _DON'T BE SO FUCKING CLICHÉ DAMNIT!"_ A machine gunner yelled at the guard over the drowning sound of his HMG.

The reason why this particular village is so mediocrely advanced at their defensive weapons is because this is a rich settlement, therefore providing the sufficient funds for the defense systems. But soon, that won't matter anymore.

This village is being overrun.

The guards desperately tried to hold the Grimm back, which strangely had their hides tinted red and their carapace bone armor increased in amount, as the civilians in the settlement start to board emergency evacuation airships.

"What kind of Grimm is this?!" One of the guards shouted beside Roz, as said guard reloaded. He slammed a new clip in and started firing away at the incoming horde. Hundreds of Grimm poured out from the forest perimeter, just as quickly as thousands of Dust rounds were discharged.

"Whoa! Shit! Stay ba- AHHH!" A guard got impaled right in the chest, his already low Aura failing to protect him as it the Blood Grimm's claws poked out of the poor soul's bloodied back, before being pulled out. The lifeless body slowly crumpled down to the floor, his eyes glazed over and a small tear at the corner.

"Fuck! Schwarz's down!"

"Go Go Go!"

"Ahh!"

"Look! Our village Huntsman!" The voice was followed up by sounds of cheering, as the Huntsman appeared and started gunning down dozens of the new Grimm with his handheld LMG. One Grimm got too close and the Hunter's weapon transformed into a big-ass double-edged axe. Don't ask how. He promptly swung the axe and decapitated the Grimm, before transforming it back into LMG mode and mowing down more Grimm.

"Look out!" The cry came too late, as a larger, scarier and more armored Blood Grimm pounced behind him, swinging a claw at the man's back. His Aura flared as he emptied a dozen rounds into the offender's torso, but not before the Grimm in front of him earlier attack his back while he's turned. His Aura flared once more, but now significantly darker. He winced in pain before jumping away.

He landed not too far away, but before he could land, the large Grimm followed him and swiped its humongous claw so fast, all that can be seen is a very brief blur, then impacting the Huntsman dead in the chest. He was thrown backwards, smashing into a house and destroying whatever counted as a wall.

The beast did not slow down, instead immediately charging forward the destroyed house. As it neared, a column of fire burst out of the house, stopping the Blood Grimm in its advance and forcing it to hold its arms up in a defensive manner. The flame scorched the blood red hide of the Grimm, causing large amounts of pain.

The Huntsman then stepped out into the open, then starting firing fire into the Grimm. The Grimm simply continued to hold its arms up and slowly advancing. After a few seconds of moving forward, it jumped up, and within a fraction of a second, crashed into the Huntsman from above.

As the Grimm's feet connected with the man's head, the pure kinetic force behind that smash caused the man's Aura to instantly shatter, flaring once and disappearing forever. Giving no remorse, the Grimm beheaded the man just as it landed, the lifeless falling harmlessly off the neck.

As the body crumpled to the floor, the Grimm's body visibly shuddered, a strange red glow emanating from the monster. The Grimm let out an earthshaking roar, while its right eye started to glow fiery yellow.

The last thing the remaining guards saw, was the Grimm that killed their village's Huntsman menacingly turn towards them, and opening its mouth.

And out came a column of flame headed straight for them.

 **A/N: Ah! Done! So those bloody Blood Grimm I introduced a couple of chapters ago finally have a use. A week from now, I will be taking my finals, so yea.**

 **CRAMMING TIME!**

 **Here are the review responses!**

 **Guest: Well, I can't just go around and reveal (shitty) possible plot now, can I?**

 **Cadaver1041: Well, SHE's going to have a little scene down the line, I can tell you that.**

 **That's all now, ciao!**


	7. Back to School, Team RWBY!

**RWBY And TF2 are products of their respective corporations, and will only be a short amount of time before they take over the world.**

 **Warning, this chapter is very bloody.**

 **Bullhead – Enroute to destination**

"REMIND MEH WHY WE'RE HERE AGAIN?!"

"BECAUSE OZPIN HIRED US TO INVESTIGATE THIS AREA!"

"AGAIN?! WHAT'S THE MATTER THIS TIME?!"

"I SWEAR YOU HAVE _VERY_ SHORT TERM MEMORY!"

"I THOUGHT WE ALREADY AGREED ON THAT WHEN WE MET!"

"Uh, vhy are you voth shouting? Ve can hear you just fine, mein Freund!"

Engineer and the Demoman slowly turned towards the Medic, before a look of realization dawned on them. "Oh."

The pilot looked at their direction awkwardly, just as the dashboard in front of him blinked rapidly. "Yo, we're here!" Team R.E.D. immediately stopped bickering and double-checked their weapons and equipment. Demoman secured his grenades, Medic loaded a syringe cartridge into the Blutsauger, the Pyro pumped his shotgun, Spy checked his Ambassador and the Engineer slapped a fresh clip into his pistol.

"Let's do this!" Demoman said in his heavily accented voice, jumping off the Bullhead which hovered right above the ground. His team soon followed suit, all jumping down to the ground and instantly going on alert. "Good hunting boys, call me if you need me." The pilot's voice cackled over the merc's earpieces. The Bullhead soon pulled up and disappeared over the forest line.

"Engi, stay with Pyro. Demo, Medic, on me." The others nodded, and split off. "Remember comrades, we are here to investigate the destruction of this settlement. Stay low, we do not want any Grimm to spot us." Spy lifted his hand off the earpiece and gestured to the Medic and Demoman, who were following closely behind him.

Spy was about to round a corner just as a loud growling sound was heard. He immediately crouched down and scanned the area. He continued to sweep with his Ambassador until the growl sounded again, this time to their left. Spy made hand signals to the two men waiting behind him, and they nodded.

He pressed a button on his watch, activating the light distortion unit. He slipped around the corner and found a Beowolf prowling about a plaza, which happens to be the source of the growls. He also noticed that the Grimm's hide is tinted red instead of the normal pitch black, bearing a distinct similarity to…

" _The Grimm that we fought a week ago!"_ Spy radioed his team and informed them of the Grimm, all the while keeping a keen eye on the Beowolf's movements. Seeing that the wolf is busy devouring a half-eaten carcass, presumably a human's, he snuck behind the creature and stuck his knife between the Grimm's brains, killing it.

" _Alright men, I've dispatched the Beowolf. Note, this Grimm is the same type that we fought a week ago at Ruby and Yang's house, and we all know how tough they are. Be alert."_ Engineer let out an exasperated sigh, while Pyro just skipped down the alleyway. Passing by a slew of dead corpses, they reached the police station. Inside, it was a bloody mess. A man's gut was hanging out of where it should be, and half his head is ripped off completely, leaving his brains dangling in the air. Another policeman had a Dust gun in his hands, but he seemed to have committed suicide with said gun.

"Hmphm…" Pyro scrutinized the place, picking up a Dust-based shotgun in the process. Engineer walked up to what seems to be an office door. His hand rested on the handle, he pushed the door open, finding someone dead. VERY dead.

Said dead man was another policeman, though his bloodied uniform – what's left of it anyways – distinguishes him from the normal policeman with his rank insignia. He appears to be sheriff of the town, and looked like he had a bloody last stand here. His right arm was completely ripped off his body, which itself is already separated from its legs. Said legs lied next to the body, dark blue pants stained brown by blood, probably his own. His left arm held an assault rifle, a half-empty magazine containing Fire Dust rounds loaded in it. The room was almost fully painted crimson red with blood, with only splotches of white paint visible against the brownish-red blood.

"Fucking hell…" Engineer walked over to the wooden desk and looked at the computer terminal. Surprisingly, the terminal did not suffer much damage, only a few scratches and blotches of blood here and there. He looked through the files, filtering criminal records and daily schedules, until he came upon a folder labeled 'Daily logs'. He clicked the folder and clicked on the one representing the date the town was attacked.

 _Date : 21 / 10_

 _Log :_

 _00:00 – Resetting clock_

 _05:00 – Shift B signed off, Shift A signed on_

 _07:00 – Sheriff in office_

 _13:37 – Crime reported : Type : PETTY THEFT_

 _18:57 – Grimm sighting : Threat : Low_

 _19:01 – Grimm sighting : Threat : Medium : GUARD ENGAGING_

 _19:03 – Grimm sighting : Threat : HIGH : GUARD ENGAGING_

 _19:03 – INITIATING EVACUATION PROCESS_

 _19:05 – Sending help request – FAILED : REASON : CCT SUBSTATION OFFLINE_

 _19:05 – EMERGENCY TOWN GUARD ACTIVATED_

 _19:06 – Sending help request – FAILED : REASON : CCT SUBSTATION OFFLINE_

 _19:10 – LOST RADIO CONTACT WITH EVACUATION SHIP NO.1_

 _19:11 – LOST RADIO CONTACT WITH EVACUATIN SHIP NO. 3_

 _19:12 – LOST RADIO CONTACT WITH EVACUATION SHIP NO. 2_

 _23:12 – Nearby CCT signal acquired : SENDING MESSAGE_

 _23:59 – PREPARING CLOCK RESET_

"Well. That was dark."

The evacuation airships were sighted in town, nothing but a pile of burning wreck. The Engineer walked over to the dead sheriff and closed his eyes with his gloved hands. The Texan pushed the door open, finding the Pyro sifting the weapons they have in the armory.

"C'mon Pyro. We're done here." Pyro hummed and followed his/her/its companion out the door into the wrecked street. They walked for another few minutes in relative silence, the eerie tone of the dead town filled only by the cheerful humming of the Pyro.

" _Engineer, anything on your end?"_

"Nah, nothin' here. Just a shit ton of dead bodies."

" _Our ride is getting impatient. Meet at the middle of the plaza in the centre of town."_ Engineer nodded, motioning towards Pyro to follow him. The walk there was uneventful, just a couple leftover Blood Grimm dispatched with lethal efficiency.

One particular Grimm – A normal Beowolf – got too close and accidentally extinguished the fire Pyro was admiring in his(?) hands. That poor soul(less), it's mother won't even recognize it after the Pyro melted the creature with hot napalm.

If it had one anyways.

"Anything you boys find?" Spy shook his head as he inspected a used Dust cartridge on the ground. They radioed in the Bullhead and the pilot swiftly came and picked them up.

"How's the hunting? Any findings?" The pilot said from the cockpit, expertly maneuvering the air vehicle at the same time.

"Ve found Grimm, but a zifferent type of Grimm. And a lot of dead bodies." The pilot nodded and continued piloting the plane.

"Hey, y'know Beacon starts school two days later?" Engineer said to his comrades, who nodded. "Y'all miss teaching? Y'know, no fighting giant robots, no killing each other, no fighting random-ass White Fang?"

"I admit, I quite miss teaching my class. I need to think of new curriculums for the new term, especially preparing them for the Vytal festival." Spy replied, earning a nod of agreement from his friend. The rest of the ride was spent exchanging banter and sharing the occasional dark jokes, sometimes with the pilot as well.

 **Beacon**

"Hey, there's our garage!" The group followed the Engineer's pointer finger and indeed finding their old warehouse still intact, undoubtedly still containing their beloved Dreadnoughts. A lot of workers were milling around, carrying boxes of supplies, ammunition, food, _pancakes for Nora_ , building materials, _more pancakes,_ and cookies. Because who doesn't like cookies?

"Hey! It's Team R.E.D!" A worker announced, followed by a chorus of cheers from the others. Ever since the ex-RED Team members successfully helped destroy the Tsunami, the local population started to treat them like celebrities. The team waved at them and continued on their trip to – Guess what? Ozpin's office.

"Good morning, Glynda." Medic said as he passed by the blonde professor, carrying her riding crop as always. He received a curt nod in response. They passed through the door, and entered the elevator. The moment the elevator doors closed, cheesy elevator music started playing, accompanied by the dull hum of the elevator moving upwards.

Soon, the elevator dinged and opened the door, letting the team out of the claustrophobia-causing elevator room and into the room containing an overly extravagant display of metal gears.

Sitting on the chair facing away from them, was Headmaster Ozpin. Eerie music started playing out of nowhere as he used his legs to turn the chair around. His hands are placed in a 45 degree position, and crossing his legs, mimicking a meeting with a boss.

"I was expecting you." He said ominously, creeping the men in front of him. His chair swiveled towards them, and continued swiveling another 90 degrees, making him now face the green wall.

"Sir, with all due respect, you fucking failed that." Engineer pointed out. "Yes I did."

"So! Back to business. How did your investigation go?" Ozpin recomposed himself and placed his hands on the desk, summoning a computer terminal with a press of a button. The team then explained to him the condition of the town, which is royally fucked to the fifth degree, and the new type of Grimm.

"Grimm with red hides? The only report of this type of Grimm is in Patch, a week ago. Why did they appear near the town suddenly?" Ozpin questioned the team. "We don't know. It's just that the entire population of that town is gone by the hands of this type of Grimm." Engineer answered. Ozpin gave a nod and typed away on his computer terminal, hands a blur as he keyed in words.

"Well, anything else?" A chorus of head shakes. "Thank you, gentlemen. You may now return to your assets."

"Oh, and," The team turned around to face their boss again, who held up a hand.

"Be ready for when school starts."

 **Two Days Later**

"Oh, I'm going to miss you! Good luck!" Summer squeezed her two daughters so tightly, even Yang was started to wheeze for air.

"Mom… Air… Need!" Ruby weakly whined, making Summer quickly let go of her bear hug, giving the two girls enough lung space to properly breath.

"Jeez, your – hug, wow, so – strong!" Summer ruffled Yang's hair, earning her a glare and a hand rapidly swatting her hand away.

"Alright, stay safe, ok?"

"Mom! You'll still get the chance to see us at our dorm! Don't worry!" Ruby assured her mother, who nodded.

"Summer, ve need to get going." Summer turned and followed the Medic to his team, but not before giving a quick kiss on the cheek to her daughters. Spy, Demoman, Pyro and the Engineer stood up ahead, conversing with one another.

"Yo, you ready?"

"Ready. Let's go!"

"WEISS! BLAKE!" As soon as the heiress heard that, Ruby dashed into the duo, knocking them down with the force of a metaphorical freight truck.

"Get. Off, me! Dolt!" Weiss forcefully and half-playfully pushed Ruby off her body, with Blake helping her. Behind their leader, Yang approached with a duffle bag hanging off her shoulder. "Hey girls! Long time no see!" She waved towards the team. Blake managed a small smile at the buxom brawler.

"Aww yea! Team RWBY is back to-ge-ther!" Ruby gleefully exclaimed, making Weiss facepalm at her antics. Blake's smile grew bigger while Yang simply chuckled lightly.

 **Team RWBY's Dorm Room**

"I missed you, bed!" Ruby unceremoniously plopped down on her dorm bed, eliciting a slight creak from the ceiling support above her bed. Later, the team caught up on each other as they cleaned the room and unpacked their luggage.

"So, what did you do, Weiss?" Yang asked the heiress, who sighed exasperatedly.

"Very mundane tasks. Just training with Myrtenaster, and occasionally inspecting the offices with my father." She spat out the last part of her sentence with venom, and Yang understood completely.

"Just that? Nothing else? Y'know, talking?"

"Of course I did that! Just that… I have no friends at home. Only my personal driver, Greg am I truly friends with. He was like my… Uncle. He cared for me a lot, sometimes caring for me more than my father." Yang nodded at Weiss' answer and continued on unpacking her stuff, which mostly consists of shampoo, conditioners, and everything related to hair you can find. Except for hair dye, which she despises.

"Sooo… What did you do during the two weeks?" Ruby asked her teammate, Blake as they unpacked. Blake looked up and contemplated her words for a second, before speaking. "Well, I mostly went into the Forest of Forever Fall to practice, nothing much. Occasionally going to the library to get some research, and that's that." She continued organizing her books as she answered. Ruby hummed in response and went back to her own things.

 **Ozpin's Office**

" _Hello? Ozpin?"_

Ozpin moved his hand and pressed a button on the table with his index finger. "Yes Glynda?"

" _Team R.E.D. wants to meet you. They've brought someone along as well, says that he- SHE'S important."_

"… Very well, bring them up here. Thank you." He sat back in his chair, relaxing. Not long after, the elevator door 'dinged' and the double doors opened. Five men and one woman – Distinguished by the noticeable mount on her chest – funneled into the room semi-orderly.

The admittedly short woman, just barely reaching up to the Engineer's neck, was wearing a jeans and a simple red T-Shirt. Her face was obscured by a hood, creating a shadow over her face. Her hood was attached to a cloak, reaching all the way down to her shins. The white hood definitely made her stick out among the red-clothed Team R.E.D.

Wait.

 _Wait._

Let's rephrase that. A woman. Wearing a white hood.

 _A white hood._

"Hello, Ozpin. Long time no see." Her feminine voice sounded exactly like her, albeit slightly higher pitched. Ozpin's breathing started to hitch a slight bit, but he composed himself quickly.

"I believe we did not meet. Would you be so kind to introduce yourself?"

"Yes." She took off her hood. "Summer Rose, at your service."

Ozpin was not a man who lost his cool easily. But this? This was the closest something – Someone – Made him almost lose his composure.

Summer Rose, in the flesh.

Her Aura, the same feeling all those years ago.

Her silver eyes.

Two silver-grey orbs stared in his direction, with a growing smirk on the supposedly dead woman. Undeniably, no matter how much evidence points against the fact, this was Summer Rose, AKA The White Reaper.

"Miss me, Oz?" She said with a dramatic wave of her two hands. "Being dead for a few years did nothing to dull your same sense of humor, Mrs. Rose." He replied as he sat up straight. "But, it's time you, and you all owe me an explanation."

 **Two Days Later**

"… Welcome, fellow students." Ozpin began on the stage.

Medic continued to tune his boss' speech out of his mind, instead more concentrated on his briefing he received in his Scroll. The message instructed him to be ready and pack his bags; he was going out on a mission soon. He didn't need to listen to the speech because it was basically summed up with: You're all going on a mission with a Huntsman or Huntress in or outside the kingdom.

Compression better than RAR.

So, after a two minute talk, holograms appeared on the walls of the hall showing details of missions. The students started scattering and followed or lead their team to which mission they feel best suited for. Originally, this curriculum was supposed to happen a few weeks ago, but you know how that turned out when the Tsunami attacked.

Medic stood up, going to where his bags were located, and took them with him. His 'bags' consists of only one backpack filled to the brim food and water, along with a few essentials. His mission was to defend a village along with a team of first years. He walked over to the landing pads, and waited at pad number 3.

Around five minutes or so passed before footsteps sounded behind him. His back was turned to them so he couldn't see who they were. He deposited his Scroll and turned around. "Ah, just on time." He barely finished when his eyes caught sight of which team he was shadowed by.

"… Hi, Medic?"

"… Hallo, Team RWBY."

 **A/N: And… Done! Sorry this took so long, was busy handling my finals, which I still did not finish. So, I'll have to excuse myself for another week and a half, due to going on a short trip after my finals (FUCK YOU HISTORY). Apologies in advance.**

 **So Team RWBY will be following Medic on a mission! Nothing bad will happen… I think? To all those that want to see the team of our favorite characters battle it out, the next chapter is gonna be for you.**

 **On another note, I felt that my writing skills are lacking recently. So, I kindly ask you, my dear readers, to point out whatever mistakes I had in my stories. Grammar, spelling, translations all that shit. I thank you once more in advance.**

 **Also, for those that need a Deconfuser-9000, the chapters before this as well as probably 1 or two more chapters after this takes place in the gap between Volume 2 and 3(AKA Shit hit the fan).**

 **Now, the following texts are for deconfusing people. You can skip them if you want.**

 **Deconfuser**

 **The 5 New men – Starts at Volume 1 EP 16, Ends in alternate at Volume 1 EP 16, Ends in alternate Volume 2 EP 12.**

 **This story – Starting takes place in the time gap between V2 and V3, will move into V3 later on the line.**

 **Blood Grimm – Whether you like it or not, it is a new type of Grimm I 'invented' to have a bit more difficulty by the mercs to constantly combat them, basically acting as tougher Grimm. Also, their abilities, re-read the end of chapter 5 carefully.**

 **Now, Review time!**

 **Up n Down: It's always nice to see a new RWBY watcher. Oh, your brain died? Wait… I'll- NO MEDIC! NO! A DEFILIBRATOR IS NOT USED THERE! WAIT NO! - As for your question, read the above deconfusers. Thank you for taking your time to check out my story!**

 **Chief of RAGE: Yea, I always felt that Dust had to have some weaknesses, and I added that fact as a way for the mercs to effectively combat the natives of Remnant who have Aura, making it fairer. I think it's already canon that the Grimm's armor is bone? I might be wrong though. As for internal organs, well, it could just be the animators being lazy or have no time to animate the models for internal Grimm organs, so they probably went without. Also, thanks m8! I look forward to yours as well!**

 **And that's all for today, I'll come back a week and a half later and I can assure you, it will be a longer chapter than this.**

 **Goodbye, and good morning/afternoon/evening/night.**


	8. Things Gettin' Serious

" _ **Cinder. Lure the roses out. I don't care how you do it, just lure them out."**_

*Beep*

*Beep*

"… Cinder."

"Adam. I need your men."

 **En Route to Destination**

The bullhead's engines filled the peaceful skies with the hum of its engines, flying at excess of over 200 miles per hour. Inside, the Medic and Team RWBY sat at cushioned seats.

"What's up with the new ensemble prof?"

Indeed, the Medic was wearing a slightly different outfit. He was wearing a large overcoat, with a silky white undershirt tucked inside the overcoat. Two straps attached to his gloves were connected to the overcoat. He also wore a white helmet with a red cross painted on the side of it. A grey-colored ballistics vest was worn on top of the overcoat, suspended by black straps around his body. Instead of his usual pants, he wore a camouflaged pair of pants along with red kneepads.

"Ve zon't know if ve might get into a varzone, best to be prepared." The four girls of team RWBY nodded in agreement. Soon, the Medic spotted a few trails of smoke coming from the horizon, ordering the pilot to fly towards them.

As they neared the village, the Medic could closely see the layout of the village. A few houses littered the green grasslands, a police station near the center of the village, along with a small-sized hospital, militia barracks and other random establishments. Three towers also stood at the perimeter of the village, each reaching up to heights of ten meters.

"Hmph, looks pretty okay. The walls should be enough to fend off stray Grimm." Yang was referring to the four-foot high fences, constructed with wood, spikes and metal barbed wire. As they landed, a few villagers looked at the Medic strangely, before shrugging and continued welcoming the newcomers.

An elderly-looking man walked forward, his intricate wooden cane held in his left hand. "Ah, you have arrived. My name is Elder Lexion, and I am the mayor of this humble village. We thank you for coming to our assistance."

"You can count on us, Team RWBY! The best team in Beacon!" Ruby excited exclaimed, making a few villagers chuckle in good spirits.

"It's nice to see young hunters and huntresses so enthusiastic, keeps our spirits up as well." The Elder said to the crimson brunette.

"Er… Actually we're just Huntresses in training…"

"No matter. Now, let's get down to business. Mr… Excuse me, but I don't seem to recall your name."

"Just call me Medic." The Elder nodded at the doctor's answer, before his eyes lit up suddenly.

"Wait, you can heal people? That's your semblance?" Medic shook his head, and instead took out his Medigun. "Zis, is what I use to heal."

"Alright, you'll be useful when the Grimm attack and we suffer casualties, though I certainly do not want that to happen." The man said grimly. "Zon't vorry, I vill take care of any wounded you need me to tend to."

"Sir? How many Grimm are you expecting?" Weiss asked as she looked around the village. The village Elder held his chin in thought for a moment. "This time of the year? Around a few hundred. We don't know why, but we've been getting the attention of a lot of Grimm during this week particularly every year, without fail. We've tried investigating the cause, but we always ended up empty handed." He said with an exasperated tone. Team RWBY nodded, while the Medic just continued staring at him.

"Anyways, let's get back on track. I'll show you your rooms which you will be staying in for rest of the week."

 **10 Minutes Later**

"Alright, I believe you deposited your bags already?" Lexion asked the Huntsman and a Huntresses. He received nods in response.

"Now, by tonight midnight sharp, the so called 'Grimm Week' will begin. Our local militia is perfectly capable of taking them on, we just need you as backup, or just help them out. I'd prefer the latter though; I don't want any good men to die here."

"This here, is Ferix, the commander of the militia. I suggest you to follow his orders, as he is a wise man, and had successfully planned out effective defensive strategies a few times now. Ferix." Elder Lexion stepped away from the table, and in turn Ferix stepped forward. He wore metallic shoulder pads and light protective vest. His gaze cut into Team RWBY, making even Blake shudder at the pure sharpness of the man's gaze.

"Greetings. Let's not waste more time. What are your weapons?"

" _No nonsense, eh?"_ Medic inwardly thought.

"I have a scythe, it's also a high-impact sniper rifle!" Ruby said as she held Crescent Rose in her hands.

"I can use Dust effectively."

"My weapon is a sword attached to a ribbon, and is also a semi-auto pistol. It has a long reach as well"

* _K-CHIK_ * "'Nuff said."

"… What? Me? Vell, I'm more of a healer zan anything, but I can still be effective. I have a syringe gun, filled with cyanide! Oh, the screams of ze dead Grimm!" Medic pulled out his Ubersaw. "Also, zis."

"Good, now here-"

A dull hum of Bullhead engines suddenly started sounding outside the briefing room, located inside the barracks. "What the-"

A loud scream cut him off. Just as he went outside the briefing room to investigate, a chorus of gunshots sounded. At the same time, his earpiece cackled to life. "What in the name of bloody Grimm is happening out there!?"

" _S-Sir! We've spotted a few Bullheads flying overhead, and they've opened fire on us! They'd been mowing down anybody that was caught in their sights! Wait, I can see the White Fang insignia on the Bullheads! Charls and Isei are down, we ne- AH! SHIT! No no no NO-"_

"Rex! Rex! Damn it! Get ready girls and boys, we need to defend this village!" He ran over to the barracks, turning on the town-wide alarm on the way.

"Uh… What?"

"Shut up Ruby! Come on, we can't just let the people out there die!" Weiss grabbed Ruby's hand and dragged her towards Ferix. Yang and Blake looked at each other, then shrugged, and ran towards their teammates.

"Get ready! Move it!" Ferix shouted at the top of his voice, prompting multiple militiamen in the barracks to arm themselves with various weaponry, ranging from simple pistols to complex Dust machine guns.

Stepping out of the barracks, the Medic could see a few militiamen and women manning mounted weaponry on towers, while the Bullheads continued their circling and bombardment of the village.

"Gather the villagers in the Grimm shelter! Top priority!" Ruby heard the commander shout in a gruff voice, and immediately thereafter opened fire on the Bullheads above with what seems to be a sniper rifle. Turning around, she saw two children not looking over ten cowering inside an alleyway.

"Hey little guys! C'mon, you have to go inside the Grimm shelter. C'mon!"

"Wait! H-have to wait for mommy and daddy…" One of the children, a girl, pointed inside the alleyway. Following her finger, Ruby found nothing, the evening light not helping a bit with visibility, add to the fact that the village only has a few night lights. Finally, she made out two figures lying on the ground. Slowly making her way over, she nearly tripped over an object, but she quickly balanced herself. Ruby reached inside her pocket and pulled out her Scroll, activating her flashlight in the process. The light drove the darkness away, and seeing a sight that made her gag a bit. The two figures, one female and one male, are both bloodied and riddled with bullet holes. The object that she tripped over earlier was the right hand of the male's. The two children walked over to one of the bodies and started shaking it.

"Daddy, let's go! Daddy! Daddy!" The child continued shaking the dead body, his eyes showing tears.

" _C'mon Ruby, don't cry don't cry don't cry…"_ Ruby tried to console herself internally and to not cry, but her tear ducts are already watering.

"Look, little guy, I'll bring your p-parents home later, K? They're… S-Sleeping now, so don't disturb them, got it?" Ruby held the hands of the two children tightly and ran to the designated Grimm shelter as quickly as possible, without using her semblance. She wouldn't want the children's organs to burst from the sheer speed she'll be going at her semblance.

"Alright lil' guy, stay in there okay? Mommy and daddy will come by shortly, stay safe!" Once the twins entered the shelter located underground, her eyes finally teared up.

" _Huntresses s-shouldn't c-cry. Be strong Ruby!"_ She continued to search for any survivors, and after seeing none, she returned to the barracks, dodging a few bullets between the buildings. Nearby, a Bullhead touched down and began deploying White Fang members. One Faunus with tusks visible on his face spotted her and called out to his comrades. They raised their rifles in unison, safeties clicking off.

Using her speed, Ruby ducked under a hail of subsonic Dust rounds and ran behind a house. The gunfire stopped for a moment, making Ruby peek her head around the corner to take a look. Bad move, as a round narrowly missed her, only taking off a bit of her crimson hair.

Saying nothing, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose off her back, and transforming it into rifle form. Dashing out of cover, she used her increased reaction times from her semblance to sidestep bullets fired by the militants, firing a few .50 Cal Anti-Tank Dust rounds from her sniper rifle towards them. A Faunus with cat ears got hit by one of the rounds, punching it clean through his Aura and taking his left arm off in a bloody display of red.

" _Oh Oum I took that guy's arm off oh Oum-"_ Bullets whizzing past her head snapped her out of that depressing train of thought once again focusing on the task at hand. Extending her scythe to scythe form, Ruby fired a round and using the recoil to spin herself around, hitting another militant out cold with the blunt end of her 'baby'.

Ruby took a quick glance at the remaining militants. _"Two down, three left."_ Just as she was about to attack them, a loud gunshot filled the air and in came a yellow ball of fury. Yang landed on one of the militants, visibly shattering his Aura and snapping his neck. As the other militants turned around and trained their Dust rifles on her, the blonde simply blasted herself forward with Ember Celica and smashed two other White Fang fighters' faces in, making a fist-sized dent in their masks and knocking them to unconsciousness. The third member was visibly shaking, and after a second of staring at Yang in fear, dropped his rifle and charged in the opposite direction.

Yang simply loaded a long-range shot into her shotgun gauntlets and fired it, striking the militant in the back. The fleeing man collapsed to the floor in a small crater. After that was taken care of, Yang turned around to face Ruby so fast that she nearly whiplashed.

"Ruby! Are you okay?!"

"Relax Yang, I'm okay. Now let's ge-" Ruby's mouth froze when her eyes saw the White Fang member who was missing his arm, sitting upright against a building. A large pool of fresh blood sat underneath the man's severed arm, still twitching as if it doesn't realize that the brain isn't connected to it anymore.

"… Should we help him?" Yang asked her sister, gauntlets still extended and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Ruby looked at Yang with a confused and slightly angry expression. "Of course we should Yang! He's injured and-"

"Yes Ruby, but… This man… tried to kill you. We should just leave him be, or I'll give him a mercy killing."

"YANG! How could you say that! Everybody deserves a second chance! We could still help him!" Ruby nearly shouted at her sister as her silver eyes started to lightly glow a bit, however unnoticeable. As Yang opened her mouth to retort, the sound of a gun clicking is heard.

Looking at the downed militant, the man used his only remaining arm to draw his sidearm, a simple 9mm Dust pistol and aimed it at Yang. Said girl reared her fist back to fire a round, but the militant moved his sights away from Yang's head. Shakily, he slowly pushed the gun against his own chin. Giving a light smile, he pulled the trigger and the round exploded inside the barrel, and splattered the man's brains all over the wall he was leaning against.

"NO!" At the same time Ruby shouted, multiple more White Fang militants barged through an alleyway, one particular member shouting orders to the others. They expertly trained their sights on the duo and started firing. Yang reacted too slowly and got hit in the stomach by a round, but her Aura resisted. Quickly blast-jumping to safety, Yang dragged Ruby along with her to the RZ point.

"C'mon! Can't we take a break?!" Yang shouted as she shot another long-range round at a Faunus pursuer, dropping his Aura down and knocking him across the road. A burst of gunfire from the town militiamen made the pursuing militants stop and take cover behind overturned cars and buildings. A militiawoman motioned the two girls to get behind her while her comrades continued giving suppressive fire.

The barracks was a mess, with a few dead or wounded militiamen was being treated by the Medic. His Medigun did short work of the wounded and enabled them to continue fighting back. Seeing that the firefight calmed down a bit, the Medic pulled out his personal Scroll and quickly dialing in a certain someone's number.

"Ozpin! Ve need help over here! Ze village is under attack by White Fang militants! W-Ja! Send reinforcements! Send my team, schwiendhund!" Medic promptly cut the call and shot a CC bolt at a militant's head, lowering his Aura and allowing him to get hit by a round to head by Ferix.

"Ruby! Yang!" Weiss yelled from another defense line, Blake busy firing rounds at approaching White Fang members. Weiss ran over to Yang and Ruby, who was giving a thousand yard stare.

"Uh, Ruby? What happened? Ruby! Snap out of it!"

"Weiss… Weiss I… I…"

"Say it! Come on, what happened!"

"Weiss… I… I KILLED SOMEONE!" Ruby collapsed onto Weiss chest, which, completely unprepared for this, could only attempt to comfort the team leader. Medic saw this happening and immediately rushed over, his Medigun dangling over his chest. "Vat happened!?"

"Ruby… Said she just… Killed someone." Simply replying a deadpan 'oh', Medic moved over to Ruby and started patting her on the back.

"… Zere's nothing you can really do now. You'll jus have to give her some time." With that, the Medic sped off, but not without saying a 'stay strong' to the stricken Ruby.

'Ding!'

"Ah! Schwiendhund, vat is it?!" Medic pulled out his annoying Scroll, only to find out Pyro - Of all the people – Messaged him. Opening it, he quickly read the contents of the message.

"Oh."

"… I hear something."

"Blake?"

 **BOOM**

An explosion rocked the earth, eliciting a few 'What the fuck!'s from the militiamen. His Scroll dinging again, and Medic pulled it out and read the new message.

"Vell, Pyro's here."

"…What?"

"AH! WHAT THE HELL! SHOOT 'EM SHOOT 'EM!" A voice sounded from a road junction further down ahead.

"… I said he's here."

"AH!"

A lone figure rushed around the corner and turned into the road leading to the militia barracks. Its left hand was holding a fire axe, while its right held a shotgun which is painted a forest camouflage and a seemingly home-made flamethrower made from household items along with a bright red flare gun strapped to its belt and a makeshift car-battery-hammer on its back. A few militiamen and women spotted the Pyro and started to raise their rifles at it. "Mmmph!" It waved its axe-wielding hand towards the militiamen and women.

"VAIT! Zon't shoot!" Ferix, whose hand was held a in a knife gesture and ready to order his men to shoot, hesitantly called his men to stand down. Most of the men and women complied without hesitation, but a few of them still eyed the Pyro with suspicion.

The Medic along with Yang and Blake rushed forward to greet the Pyro, while Ruby was still crying into Weiss' chest. "Professor Pyro." Blake silently greeted. Pyro returned a nod, then 'spoke' to the Medic in his – Or her, or its – muffled voice. Medic nodded and put away his Medigun, instead pulling out the Blutsauger and loading a cartridge.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Yang voiced her question.

"… We're practicing medicine, hehaHA!" Medic's laugh suddenly became maniacal, making even Ferix look at him with some sort of fear and uncertainty.

"Pyro mein freund, _BERECHNEN!_ "

"Mmphh!"

Pyro and the Medic simultaneously charged across the line, leaping over sandbags and obstacles as they go. A group of White Fang members who took cover behind cars and buildings nearby popped out to shoot, but were quickly put to sleep by a few cyanide syringes or an axe to the face by the Pyro.

Another group who charged right around a corner around 10 meters ahead of the Medic and the Pyro got a deadly surprise as the two mercenaries each efficiently murdered countless militants in their ranks.

One of the militants reached into his pocket and called for his boss. "ADAM! WE NEED MORE MEN! THERE'S TWO GUYS HERE AND-" Whatever the Faunus wanted to say never got out of his mouth as it was blasted in the face by hot _napalm_. Ignoring the poor man's cry for help, Pyro turned around and used his axe to cut clean through another militant's Aura, effortlessly beheading him.

The Pyro elbowed another in the head and quickly unholstering his flare gun on his belt. When the man finally balanced himself, he was staring into the barrel of the Pyro's flare gun. Pulling the trigger, the flare exploded in the man's face, lighting it on fire and blasting off bits of skin on the man's face. The Pyro then felt a sharp pain in its abdomen, and after looking down discovered a Dust round had been embedded into its body. The sound of a distinct weapon firing was followed by a crossbow bolt striking the Pyro's abdomen, its healing fluid instantly closing the wound and somehow repairing the broken flame-retardant suit. Giving a thumbs up to Medic, the Pyro continued massacring the masses.

The Medic returned the gestured and nodded, before ducking under a poorly executed sword swing by another militant. Loading another compressed air cartridge, the Medic pulled the trigger on his Crusader's Crossbow and sending the crossbow flying into the militant's body. Her Aura held, but was quickly shattered by a shotgun blast by the Pyro. The Medic saw that a few of the militants had surrounded him with swords with blades colored a bloody red, undoubtedly from all the innocents that they killed.

Accepting the unspoken challenge, the Medic deposited the Blutsauger and the Crusader's Crossbow and pulled out both the Ubersaw and the bonesaw with his right and left hand respectively. The militants looked at each other for a mere moment, before deciding to charge all at once.

Reacting quickly, the Medic blocked a swing from a Faunus, while his bonesaw redirected another blow into the face of another militant, the blunt end of the blade slapping the man's cheeks. He then used his bonesaw to slice at the blade he was blocking, instantly snapping the thin red blade. The owner of the sword stood there, dumbfounded, but a quick bitch-slap with the Ubersaw struck him. Medic used both his saws to lower another fighter's Aura, until her Aura finally shattered, giving the Medic the opportunity to kill her, which he did – By sawing straight through her head. The remaining Faunus grew enraged when they saw their lifeless comrade collapse onto the floor, growling out in anger as they charged once more.

Dropping both his saws, the Medic swiftly withdrew his Medigun and flipping the Ubercharge switch. The effects of the healing liquid performing at quadruple of its efficiency made the Medic's body invulnerable right at the moment when the swords from the militants made contact with it. Taking the opportunity of the confusion, the Medic picked his Ubersaw from the ground and started to saw through the White Fang militants' Aura mercilessly, quickly dropping most of their Aura to the danger zone.

The Pyro saw the chance to kill, and directed his Degreaser at the trio of terrorists in front of the Medic, and literally opened fire. The napalm melted the bodies of the militants, their screams of pain dying out in the fiery hot fire, and the Pyro loved every single moment their screams of terror reached its ears. A few Bullheads roared overhead, dropping down more reinforcements for the White Fang.

"Let's go." Yang blasted off with Ember Celica into the crowd of Faunus and let loose multiple shotgun rounds. A few pained screams elicited from the struck men and women as being punched by a shotgun punch hurt a _lot_ , even with Aura. Using the moment of distraction, Yang punched two guys with both fists, sending them flying into a nearby building and cracking the wall of it.

Blake used her semblance and made a shadow clone just as a Fang opened fire on her. Her assailant quickly readjusted his aim and aligned the sights with the real Blake, only to have a black ribbon wrap around his neck and choking him. Looking him the eye for a moment, Blake kicked the man's head, knocking him out. With a flourish, she transformed her weapon into a semi-automatic pistol and fired a few rounds into a female militant. With a swipe of her sword and a few round into her chest, the female's Aura was shattered and left vulnerable. A shotgun shot from Pyro's shotgun finished her off quickly.

 **Meanwhile - Weiss and Ruby**

"Ruby, what happened? Tell me!" Weiss continued to look at her team leader. "*Sniff* I-I-I shot a guy, and h-h-his Aura didn't last," Tearing up more, Ruby continued between sniffs and sobs. "His a-arm was ripped off, a-and then h-he committed s-suicide." Ruby slammed her head onto Weiss' chest again, knocking the Schnee back.

"Ruby… Look," Weiss lifted Ruby's head off her chest and looked at her friend. "For now, you'll have to be strong. Now, we need to defend this village against the Fau- The White Fang. They've already caused the deaths of enough innocents. Would you let them do that?"

Ruby looked at her with watered eyes. "What? O-Of course not!

"Then now, stand up, and help."

Shakily, the crimsonette slowly stood up and giving the heiress a nod. Extending Crescent Rose into full form, Ruby sniffed a tear back and recoil-jumped into the mad fray which is the battlefield.

Unconsciously, Weiss gave a warm smile. "Hmph. Dolt." With that, she pulled out Myrtenaster and used her glyphs to charge forward.

 **Beacon - Team R.E.D.**

"So, now where ya' gonna go?" Summer turned around and looked at the Texan, who was giving her a smile.

"Well, I'll be going back to Patch for now. I mean, c'mon. I missed out on Tai for a decade, I got to spend some time with him!" Summer replied as they walked, the Spy and the Demoman discussing something behind their backs.

"Oh, wait, 'scuse me." The Engineer pulled out his Scroll, just as the Spy and the Scotsman did the same. "Huh, both 'a you too? Let's see what's this all about…" Opening the message sent by Ozpin, the Engineer read through the text. Giving it once another reread.

Summer Rose could visibly see the lower half of the Engineer's face contorting to anger, while the Spy furrowed his eyebrows. "What is it?" Sighing, the Engineer held his Scroll up for the Rose to read.

 _-Ozpin_

 _A few seconds ago, Medic from Team R.E.D, who was leading Team RWBY on a mission at Grutyon Village, had reported an attack conducted on the village by White Fang forces. He states that they along with the village militia is holding them back. I need Team R.E.D. to be dispatched to the village and provide support, immediately._

 _-Sincerely_

"… I'll come along." Summer said with a dark tone. "But ma'am, only we are-"

"I said, I'll go." Engineer tried to retort, but lost the will to do so. "Alrighty, come along." Quickly grabbing their equipment, the team of four made their way to the landing pads and boarded a waiting Bullhead.

The pilot waiting inside noticed them and put on his helmet. "Where to, sirs?"

Demoman took another swig of whiskey, before speaking in his heavily accented voice. "Tae' kick some bloody ass!"

"… No sir, as in what is your destination?" A chorus of facepalms.

 **A/N: And done!**

 **The cosmetics that the Medic is wearing this chapter is:**

 **Ward**

 **Surgeon's Stahlhelm**

 **Bunnyhopper's Ballistics Vest (Imagine it layered over the Ward)**

 **Surgical Survivlist**

 **Leaving this story alone for two weeks… Well I'm going to hell.**

 **So! Almost 5000 words! That's a slight bit longer than what I usually write, but eh. Somehow, I felt like I messed up the 'emotional' scene above, but I need some of your feedback to where I fucked up though.**

 **Next chapter! Summer Rose going ham on the WF! Though if its literal or not I still haven't thought about it. How powerful would parental revenge be? Salem, our great bitch-queen, will be playing a part indirectly the next chapter. For any of you who are saying 'Yo ATTF where's the other TF2 mercs?' We'll get to that the next chapter. As for the Soldier, Scout, Heavy and Sniper? You'll see… Don't worry though, I'm not recycling my previous story's plot, where the rest of them get into Remnant, Nooo. Different shit, boys and girls.**

 **Now, onto the reviews!**

 **T.U.M.B.: Well well, you'd be pleased by the above A/N notes. I thank you for devoting a bit of your time to check out my story, sincerely, ATTF.**

 **Chief of RAGE: I'm gonna answer both of your reviews on this one. Yep, this chappie's when shit gets started. Though I'd probably not manage the Volume 3 Chapter 9 – 12 level of shit hit the fan though. Ayy, thanks m8, my support goes out to your story as well. As for the review on Oct 3, well I could agree that the Grimm won't need organs, as shown in the volume 4 character short. Engineer? Yea I made him swear too much. But I like it that way, so I'll tone it down a tad bit. ANYBODY would've found their balls at the stratosphere when someone they know clearly is dead is standing in front of them. Also, how bad did your comp potato'ed on you? Just asking.**

 **Up n Down(Guest): Welp, there's your solution. As for your statement of the finals, I finished them recently, so I'll be able to write more often now. But now, listen. Even if you don't have a computer or a laptop, you can still write. Some portions of my old story is written on mobile as well. As long as you devote effort into it, you can write even on mobile. Don't let these things get to ya, get out that writing muse, and start writing. I know this may sound cheesy, but go for it. You want to write your story, and then offer it for the world to read. Don't worry if it's horrible, everybody starts somewhere. The motto of this website is, I quote: 'Unleash your imagination' unquote. So do it.**

 **Tf2(Guest): Well I could, but I just don't know how to integrate that living monster of bread into the story.**

 **Cadaver1041: Meh, different levels I guess. But think about it, how matter how thick the hide is, how the hell, did a round of an** _ **Anti-tank**_ **rifle not do some damage to it? It just made no sense, hence the reasoning in my story. Thank you my friend, I will try to improve my writing.** __

 **Well, that's done! I'll see ya'll in the next one! Bye!**


	9. White Fang and Grimm

"Grrrrr…"

Engineer slowly backed away from the seething Summer Rose. "Summer, calm the fuck down, please…" He was responded with a glare that seemed to glow in the dark interior of the Bullhead.

"Y'know what? I ain't even gonna try anymore." Looking away from the White Reaper, the Engineer faced his teammates. "Alrighty boys, our comrades are down there fightin' for their lives, along with Team RWBY. So, you sons a' bitches better get ready."

"Aye!" Demoman shouted out as he wiped some alcohol from his mouth. Depositing his bottle of Scrumpy, he took some extra pill bombs and stuck them into the Grenade launcher. This grenade launcher was slightly different than the others, instead of having of six barrels, this only had two. The pills he loaded in weren't normal either. These types of pills behave similarly to claymore, having a directional explosion radius.

"Yo Spy, how many kills ya got on yer Ambassador a' yours?" Spy mentally counted the number of deaths he inflicted on the weapon.

"So far? I lost count already."

"Shit! Demo! Could ya get a shot on that Bullhead over there!" Engineer pointed out the window and towards the Bullhead he was referring to in the distance. It was circling over the village and constantly dropping off more White Fang militants.

"Ya got it!" Mentally examining the distance, the Scotsman aligned the sights on his Loch and Load with the target. Accounting for movement and drop, he adjusted his aim, and pulled the trigger. The grenade flew through the dark sky, being nothing more than a barely noticeable black object to the others. After a few seconds, the grenade impacted the Bullhead, blowing it to oblivion. It spun in circles before the engines finally failed, crashing into the village with an audible 'Boom' that sent a shockwave through the air.

"Nice shot!" Engineer commended the Demoman. After flying at high speeds a few seconds later, the pilot announced that they reached their destination. Not even waiting for the Bullhead to land, the mercenaries and Summer Rose jumped off of it and landed on the ground. Except for Demoman, who just lied face down on the cold hard tar.

"There's the barracks!" Without even waiting, Summer Rose blinked forward and charged at the line of sandbags. The militiamen attempted to fire upon her but were stopped by an order from the Medic.

Clicking the hammer on the revolver, Spy faced his brothers-in-arms. "Let's not keep the lady waiting. Shall we?" He began to run forward along with the Engineer. After a second or so, the Demoman finally sobered up and detonated a stickybomb underneath his feet, propelling him sky-high. A trail of smoke and fire followed the Demoman as a crater formed at where the stickybomb was a millisecond ago.

"WHOOOooo…" The drunkard's voice was soon drowned out by the sounds of gunfire in the distance. Picking up the pace, Engineer and the Spy leaped over some sandbags and rushed into the barracks. Seeing the Medic, they rushed over to him.

"Hallo! You better get going, zis fight is getting intense!" Nodding, the Engineer ran behind a wall of sandbags and placed a toolbox on the ground. Pulling his wrench out, he began to forcefully slam it repeatedly onto the toolbox until the level three Sentry finally opened up and began firing off bullets at the rate of 12,000 RPM through its dual gatling guns. The Engineer then popped out of cover and began to fire off shots from his shotgun, taking down a few more militants who foolishly charged the line.

Nearby, Spy decided to take a detour. Instead of charging towards the line, he chose to move stealthily behind the ranks of White Fang and killing any that had been unlucky enough to be caught alone. Now, he sat behind an overturned van as he glanced around at his surroundings. The White Fang had established a forward operating base at the village, acting as a drop off zone for additional reinforcements. Pulling the Ambassador out and taking aim, the Spy aligned the sights with a militant who was walking around the base. Firing, the bullet struck the man in the face as the round continued flying through his face and impacting another militant's head. Both men's Aura did nothing against the bullet and they slumped to the ground wordlessly.

The base was then thrown into an uproar, as the members frantically looked for the perpetrator. Unbeknownst to them, the Spy had already backstabbed a panicking militant and was disguised as him. Acting panicked, he rushed over to the barracks and pulled out the YER. Swiftly backstabbing one, he continued on with his killing spree. Soon, the barracks was one bloody mess, but no bodies could be found. Quickly making an exit, he rushed away from the base, not before headshotting a sniper on top of a building as he passed by.

Meanwhile, Summer was looking around frantically for her daughters. Seeing that they are nowhere to be found, she blinked towards a running militiaman and asked him the location of Ruby and Yang.

"Oh, you mean those Huntresses that came here to help us? I last saw 'em fighting over there." Not waiting for a response, he ran off into the barracks and resupplied himself with ammunition.

"Come on, come on, where are you!? YANG! RUBY!" Hearing her mother's voice, Ruby, currently hid behind a line of sandbags firing shot after shot from her Crescent Rose, activated her semblance and ran to her mother's side. Yelping in surprise, Summer looked down and saw her sweet little rose was hugging her.

"Mom! I missed you!" Ruby said between teary sobs.

"… Uh… Ruby, what's wrong?"

"Mom!" Yang ran over to her stepmother while firing off a few blasts from Ember Celica. "You're here! We could use some help. The White Fang is pounding on the defenders!"

Nodding, Summer leaned her head closer to Ruby. "Ruby, stay strong now, okay? I'll meet you later, alright?" The reaper nodded, and with hesitation, let go of her mother. The woman then ruffled the crimsonette's hair, earning her a slight smile from the girl.

Running along with Yang towards the frontlines, Summer Rose reached behind her and pulled the compound bow off her back. The compound bow was currently in a cuboid shape, not larger than a Scroll-pad. Pushing a button on the side, the bow extended itself into its full size. Pulling an arrow out from her quiver, she notched the arrow onto the string.

"Yang Xiao Long..."

"Yea?"

"Watch what a professional Huntress can do." With a smirk, Summer aimed down the sights of her bow and let loose of the arrow. Not even waiting for the arrow to hit its target, the White Reaper pulled out another arrow and repeated the process around two or three times.

Yang stood on the sidelines with her jaw loosening by the second. In three seconds, her mother just downed four white Fang fighters and hitting them all the head. Summer just smirked even more smugly and pulled out another arrow with its metal tip glowing slightly red. Aiming slightly higher this time, she let go of the string and let the Fire Dust arrow hit its mark. The arrow struck home and created an explosion the size that a normal grenade would create. The militants close to the explosion were instantly deprived of their Aura or plain knocked out. One even flew in the air and crashed into a burning car. The other militants got hit by the shockwave and started to fall back. A few others who can't handle the shockwave simply got dispatched by the White Reaper's arrows.

Summer then drew an arrow with a blueish-white tip, and fired it into a crowd of militants. The Ice arrow took effect as the surroundings of the arrow's mark turned into freezing ice, including the Faunus. The attack was quickly followed up by a Fire Dust arrow, basically flash-freezing them then flash-frying them. Painfully.

One Faunus got too close with his sword, but the Rose simply used her bow to smack the man across the face, and finally kneeing him in the nuts. Three times. After that, she reared her foot back and kicked him in the face. Then elbowing him in the nuts once more.

The remaining Faunus retreated as a dull banging started to fill the air. The defenders of the line took a breath of relief as a few militiamen and women resupplied their comrades with ammunition. The banging eventually got louder as the ground started to shake.

Then, Spy appeared in the middle of the barracks as he uncloaked. The defenders who were on edge quickly shot him without a second thought, as his disguise was still on as a White Fang grunt.

"Ugh, scheisskerl..." Ignoring warnings from the other militiamen, the Medic walked over to the dead corpse and rubbed its face. His hands hooked onto something as the paper mask fell down. The Spy's body was then engulfed in thick smoke, while the fighters standing on the sidelines kept their guns raised on the body.

Sighing, the Medic activated his Medigun on the body. Soon, Spy's body started jerking and he was soon brought back to life. "Merde…"

"Hallo, good to see you, mein freund." The Medic offered a hand to the Spy and helped him up. The men and women standing on the sidelines were loose-jawed, but a quick shout from Ferix snapped them out.

"Ugh, my head… MERDE! Quick! There's a Paladin coming!" This caused the defenders to move quickly to their positions again, as the banging and ground shaking now became more intense. The members of Team R.E.D. gathered behind sandbags and began scanning for the threat. Indeed, the Paladin soon emerged from a corner. The Demoman sent a few pill bombs towards the Paladin, knocking it a few feet backwards.

"Team RWBY! We need your help!"

Ruby, now sobered up, turned to her sister and yelled, "Yang! Weiss! Freezerburn!"

"You got it, sis!" Blasting off, Yang waited until Weiss casted Ice Dust and slammed her fist into the sheet ice. Recreating their move from last time, the heat paired with the freezing ice created a mist impossible to see through, confusing the pilot and enabling the defenders to take blind-shots at it.

"Everyone! FIRE!" The militiamen complied, emptying every round in their magazines at the center of the mist. The Engineer wrangled his Sentry and began to fire relentlessly into the mist, sending a salvo of rockets occasionally. Pyro simply shot its shotgun without aiming. The Medic took the chance and healed everyone up to full combat efficiency with either his CC or the Medigun.

"Demoman! Stick 'em!"

"Aye!" A trail of stickybombs then landed inside the mist, all making a metallic 'thump' sound as they hit their mark. Soon, the mist faded, and the Paladin is visibly scratched and worn, but still functioning. The cannon on its hands started charging, but a whistle from the Demoman caught the pilot's attention.

"Check yer chasis." Opening an external camera, the pilot's view of the Paladin's chasis was blocked by something with spikes and spherical. Opening another, the result was the same as he cycled through all the cameras.

"Those are stickybombs." The Demoman clicked the detonator.

After an explosion, the only thing that's left of the White Fang Paladin was just a small crater with metal scrap lying all around the area. The pilot was nothing more than just a blood smear on the ground after the detonation utterly disintegrated his body.

"Good job. Spy! Anymore enemies inbound?"

"They won't be coming anymore. For a while at least. I cleared their forward operating base. One of them even got their blood on my suit, so I threw his corpse into the campfire." The militiamen simply jaw-dropped at the fact that a single person, much less a person with only a meager revolver and a knife for weaponry, could take out probably a regiment's worth of troops so easily was too much for their brains to handle.

"Alright, so we could finally get some rest?" A nod in return. "Woo, never thought that assault would end. Alright, rest up boys, we gonna need it later on if they decide to attack again." The defenders all relaxed as they took the opportunity of respite.

"Ruby! Yang! Where are you?" Two voices responded to the Rose as they walked over to her. Ruby was still noticeably shaken, but looked much better than the last time Summer saw her. Yang's clothes were torn and tattered with grime but her tank top covering her large rack strangely received no damage.

"Thank Oum. Did any of you get hurt?"

"Nope, some rounds did hit my Aura though." Yang said as she flexed her shoulders. "You?" Summer turned to Ruby.

"I-I'm fine, but…"

"Ruby?"

"I-I… Just… *Sigh* H-Huntsman and Huntresses are supposed to defend humanity! N-Not kill them!" Summer guided Ruby inside the barracks with Yang in tow. Engineer went after her but a hand from the Medic stopped her.

"… Zis is not our business. She should learn zat ze vorld is not as friendly as she thought. And zat, would be a responsibility for ze mother." Walking away, the Medic left the Engineer standing and staring at the barracks. Sighing, he walked over to his team.

"Ah, me arse hurts."

"Just shut up. Zis vill help." A crossbow bolt struck the Demoman between the eyes. "Ay, thanks mate!" The Pyro took its time and started loading in additional shells for his shotgun and reserve shooter. Demoman continued to drink some more as he massaged his aching arm from the battle. "Spy."

"Engie." Spy returned the greeting. The Engineer sat down and took out a bottle of beer he kept on him for emergencies and glugged it down. "Ahh." He wiped a drop on his mouth away with his gloved hand and observed the surroundings.

A few men and women lay on the ground as they recuperated and rested themselves, while Ferix seemed considerably more relaxed. Multiple bodies littering the ground was covered up by pieces of white fabric and gathered in an area for a proper burial. Some men even started to dig holes for the bodies with shovels.

"Hm? What's that rumbling?" The Medic looked around confusedly, before handing Spy a pair of binoculars and asking him to recon. The assassin reluctantly accepted and took off towards a nearby building.

"So… We wait?"

"Ja."

Inside the barracks though, was another matter. Ruby was seen sitting on a bunk as her mother comforted the crying girl. Yang was also helping her in soothing her sister as more tears started to pour out. Ruby wiped a tear away and continued to sob.

"Ruby, I know the feeling." Summer said as she continued to trace circles on the younger Rose's back. "I got the same reaction too when I first killed someone years ago." Ruby stared at her. "H-How d-did you c-cope with it?" She asked in between sniffs and sobs.

A sad smile came on the older Rose's face. "I didn't - I still remember his face, that sad and fearful look… Is a face I have nightmares about. Even to this day, I still have nightmares of all the people I killed come back and haunt me." She continued her story after Ruby finished wiping away more tears.

"Ruby… Being a Huntress? That's not all fairy tales and happy endings. Ruby." Ruby stopped crying and looked at her mother. "The world isn't a pretty place. And that..." A glint reflected in her silver eyes. "Is why we're here. To change all that, to help the people. But sometimes, in order to save a life, you have to take one."

"That, my little rose, is why we have to be strong. So do that, for me, for us. Okay?"

"… O-Okay. I'll do my best, mom." They finally stood up, just as sounds of chaotic shouting and frantic running popped up. The Spy barged through the door as he panted heavily. "Quick! Evacuate the village! The Grimm are coming!" He shouted, followed by a few militiamen running into the barracks and gathering all their gear. Summer hands' grasped both Yang's and Ruby's hands and rushed outside, and were treated to a spectacle of chaos.

Ferix was directing the civilians to slowly gather in one spot and wait for the evacuation airships as the village militia packed up gear and weaponry, but the fixed guns were left behind and manned by a few defenders. The Medic desperately tried to heal any civilians who were hurt and or maimed with his Medigun to great effect.

"Spy! What happened?" Summer asked the Spy who was running alongside her. "I-I saw the White Fang pulling out of the village, as well as a large group of Grimm three klicks out to the North-West. We can't keep the villagers in the shelter, it wasn't prepared for such an assault."

"Shit! Nevermore!" Spy instantly reacted to the militiaman's call and fired a few shots at the bird above and taking in account of bullet drop and travel time. The rounds struck home and penetrated the hide of the Nevermore's wings. The bird screeched and flew off course, before being lit on fire by the Pyro's flare gun.

"Fuck! Pyro! Why'dya did that?! That'll alert the Grimm!"

"Mpm! Hmgealeaymhm!"

Engineer opened his mouth to retort, but quickly closed it shut. "Fine, you're right." Suddenly, a chorus of cheers erupted from the crowd of civilians. One man in particular pointed at a shape in the sky and shouted, "Look! The ships are here! We're saved!" The ships he was referring to were EMSs, or emergency evacuation ships, funded by the government of Vale at an attempt to bolster relations with the villages and settlements outside of the kingdom's walls.

"Alright everyone, line up in an orderly fashion, we do not need to rush." A 'fuck you!' was directed at him after Ferix said the sentence, but he ignored it coolly.

The evacuation ships landed on the rooftop of a rather large department store, and to everyone's surprise – Didn't collapse the entire building. The militia helped the villagers to climb up the service ladders and board the ships, with the second ship parked nearby on another flat rooftop.

The Engineer saw that all of the civilians and had been boarded and are ready to go. Team RWBY, Summer Rose and Team R.E.D. had stayed behind until the last of the civilians boarded. "That's all of them! L-" He was cut off abruptly by a loud screech as a large flock of Nevermores flew by. "Quick! Go! GO! Leave us!" The Engineer screamed into his earpiece, which was connected to the frequency of the EMS pilots. Two hesitant pilots responded to him with a 'yes' and a 'roger'. The ships then left quickly with a burst of their Dust propelled-engines.

"Everyone, we need to buy the villagers and the pilots some time to escape. Distract the Nevermores until the EMS's are out of sight. Clear?" Everyone nodded, and withdrew their weapons.

"… I hear the Grimm."

"Huh? How can you tell, Blake?"

"I'm a Faunus, I have enhanced hearing."

"… Oh. How many?"

"I estimate around a hundreds worth." A sigh escaped the lips of the White Reaper. "Are we surrounded?"

Blake stared at her. "Yes."

Demoman decided to comment. "Aw, fucking shite…"

"Weiss, Blake, Yang, you ready?"

"Hell yea Rubes, been born ready." Smiling, Ruby extended her weapon into scythe form and fired a few rounds at the Nevermores overhead, arrogating them and distracting them from their target.

"ATTACK!" Everyone sprung into action. The Engineer again began building a sentry, but instead of a Level 3, it was a combat Mini Sentry. Using the wrangler, the Engineer aimed the laser up at a Nevermore and pushed the trigger joystick. The machine-gun spewed out bullets at a rate of 720RPM at the creature overhead, tearing holes in its body and disabling much of its flight capacity. A Nevermore saw the death of its comrade and stopped midair to fire a barrage of feathers at the annoying humans, but was stopped by an arrow to the eye. Summer smiled and pushed a small button on the side of her bow. "I never miss." The highly-concentrated Fire Dust inside the arrow tip received an electronic shock to it and detonated inside the Nevermore's head, creating a brilliant display of blood in the air along with a loud 'bang'.

Nearby, Yang loaded in Long-Range shells and spammed away, her shots hitting two birds the torso and blasting away bits of flesh. The hide of the creatures blocked out most of the blast force, and continued to fly at their target. Ruby adjusted her aim to the bird Yang was dealing with and took into account of wind trajectory and travel distance and fired her rifle. The round sailed through the air and punched right through the wing of the Nevermore. A loud screech was the last the Nevermore made as it was cut down by more automatic fire from the combined efforts of the Engineer's wrangled sentry, Blake's Uzi/Auto-Pistol and Weiss' barrage of ice crystals.

"Demoman!" Medic called out to the Scot. "Aye, nurse?" The man responded as he fired his pill bombs at the birds overhead. "Could you do vat you did at Initiation?"

"Whuat did A-" The memory flashed by him. "Oh."

He looked at the Medic with a smug and drunken look, but with an expression of determination. "Never been so happy tae' a'blige, doc." He pulled out the sticky launcher and planted a two bombs into the rooftop they were standing on. "Get ready to go tae hell, fuck-birds!" He jumped and detonated the stickies below him. The blast from the explosion propelled him dozens of feet upwards. He landed on top of a Nevermore, just as it got ready to fire a barrage.

"Incomin'!" The Engineer shouted in his Texan accent and jumped to safety, just as a black feather projectile embedded itself into the spot he was standing on just a moment ago. The others soon followed and escaped the barrage relatively unharmed, except for Ruby's cape, which was torn slightly. Ruby responded by Awwing and then later firing more rounds at the offending bird.

The Demoman grabbed onto a feather on the bird to steady himself, and planted more stickies onto the hide of the Nevermore. Jumping off, he detonated the stickies and blowing the bird to oblivion. He activated his B.A.S.E. Jumper and glided to safety on a rooftop not far from where he started.

"Yang! Get ready!" Yang cocked her head and looked at the Medic confusedly. "Get ready for what?"

"Zis! Go get zem!" He activated the Kritzkrieg, letting the empowering beam of energy flow into the body of the brawler. The blonde's weapons suddenly started to glow bright red as electricity coursed through and around it. "Huh?"

Summer noticed this and screamed at the Medic over the sound of gunfire. "What are you doing to my daughter?!"

"Oh, Nothing! Just dishing out harm. Fire!" The blonde complied and punched the air repeatedly and firing round after round at a nearby Nevermore, with a red glow following each projectile closely. "What?"

The shots connected and the body of the bird blew into so many bits, it practically disappeared into red mist in the air. "Oh hell yea! This is good! WHOOHOO!" More rounds started hitting more targets and soon, the sky was clear of any hostiles.

Blake's ears twitched. "The Grimm are here."

Medic paled slightly. "Oh-"

"AH!" The older Rose suddenly screamed and kneeled over from the pain in her head.

"W-Mom! What happened!?" Ruby and Yang rushed over to their mother's side, who was clutching her head in pain. Grunts of pain erupted from the woman's mouth.

"Mom!"

"… The Queen." Summer muttered out as she slowly but shakily stood up. Yang cocked her head again. "The who?"

"Ugh… Quick… Leave. It's not safe here. Call for help."

"What? No! We can't do that!"

"Ruby, please… The Queen is not someone you can handle… Not someone a Huntress can handle. Please. Leave." She begged her daughters, as the mercenaries fought any Grimm that tried to get up on the rooftop.

"Mom, we won't leave you." Ruby fixed a stern glare at her mother, so did Yang. "We're Huntresses, and like what you just said, we are going to make the world a better place."

Summer looked at both her daughters, before sighing exasperatedly. "Ironic, isn't it? Just a moment ago, I was giving you advice. Now it's the other way around. Huh." Summer notched an arrow onto the bow. "I said that the Queen isn't someone Huntresses can't handle. But I know what can."

"What is it?" Yang asked. Summer turned to her with a sad smile.

"A silver eyed warrior."

"Alright, stay if you want, but when the Queen appears, leave the fight to me. Got it?"

"But-"

"I said, got it?" She said with slight venom. Ruby looked at her surprised, but agreed. "Alright. Stay safe."

"Stay safe to you as well." Summer turned back around and fired an arrow straight into a Beowolf's cranium and killing it instantly. Another arrow sailed through the sky moments later and struck an Ursa's eyes. The creature fumbled to get the arrow out of its body, but another arrow hit its other eye and fell down dead.

"MmphHmphHmm!"

Summer took a glance at the Pyro beside her. "I did not understand what you said, but I'll take that as a compliment." Nodding, the Pyro jumped onto a Deathstalker and started melting it into ashes with its Degreaser. The Grimm let out one final cry of pain before collapsing.

"Good to see you finally joined ze fight, comrade." The Medic said beside her. "Less talky more fighty!"

"Eh, I zon't really get distracted." The Medic pumped a bonesaw right into the place where the heart was supposed to be in a Creeper, and sprayed a burst of needles at it. He readjusted his aim and sprayed more needles into a horde of Beowolves, killing them near instantly when the needles injected quick-working cyanide into them.

"Summer Rose." The fighting around them stopped as a voice called out from the midst of the horde. The Grimm stopped moving and all bowed down. Yang confusedly punched one away, but the others did not even flinch. The Grimm horde slowly opened a pathway, allowing a figure to approach the group of defenders. "It's been a long time."

Summer looked at the figure closely. "Same to you. Being dead for a decade does that." The figure wore a black robe, with white hair in a snake-like style and red veins coursing through its face. The eyes of the figure was a blood red, with black pupils centered inside.

Ruby glanced between the woman and her mother as she readied her weapon . "Mom…?" Her mother did not answer, instead glaring at Salem standing in front of her.

"Ruby, leave. Yang, get her out of here." The Queen let out a small but deceptively dark chuckle at that. Her eyes flared red and glowed, but quickly subsidized.

"Oh Summer, so protective of her children… Don't worry, they will be joining you in the afterlife."

The figure paced around the circle of Grimm. Summer Rose's face started to burn red with anger as she moved closer to her daughters. "Didn't know you had the balls to see me personally. Oh wait, you don't." The Queen sneered.

"I'll make sure you all die slowly." With a flick of her wrist, The Queen summoned a blast wave which blasted the mercenaries and the Huntresses off their feet and onto the road below the, except for the formerly-deceased Rose.

"Whoa- AHH!" Demoman yelled as he was pushed off the rooftop and slammed into a wall.

"This is just between you and me." Another hand gesture and black holes started appearing on the ground near The Queen. Black arms as thick as tree trunks erupted from the holes, before pulling themselves up. Each pair of arms were revealed to be the ones of Alpha Beringels, who roared loudly as they stood near their Queen.

"Shall we?"

 **A/N: And another wrap! To be honest, I felt like I screwed this one up badly. Like fuckishly horrible terribly badly. This is where things start to 'kick off'.**

 **For all of you who want to see the Soldier, Scout, Sniper and Heavy, your dreams will be satisfied either next chapter or the one after that, but rest assured, they will not be doing the same thing they did in The 5 New Men, cause I don't really like recycled plots. That's all I'm gonna tell you.**

 **On another note(Hehe, Geddit? Author's note?), RWBY VOLUME 4 HYPE IS FUCKING THROUGH THE ROOF! Though we poor people can't watch it yet 'cause we're don't have money to buy FIRST membership… Fuck. Well, by the time you western folks see this chapter, you probably watched it. But for me? I'm gonna be one day late. Damn time zones.**

 **B/N: Hey readers, it's chief of RAGE here! I beta for this guy now! Comes around real nicely when we work together, and he's a really good guy who works hard on these stories for you viewers.**

 **chief of RAGE, out!**

 **And with that, please proudly welcome this story's new Beta Reader! chief of RAGE! If you haven't, check out his own take of a TF2 X RWBY crossover,** ** _Mercs In Remnant,_** **with much more fun and admittedly, better humor than mine. He writes about ten times better than me as well!**

 **Reviews!**

 **MASTERBAStard (Guest): Thanks man! Your wish will come true a while later. Thanks once again!**

 **Chief Of Rage: Yep, I explained to you in the PM's and I am sorry once again. This was not influenced by Kamzil tho, I just read his stories. At least I think he's a he.**

 **Cadaver1041: Thanks! This here is where the plot gets 'clearer' so to speak.**

 **Up n Down: Well, it's always good to try! WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TF2, LAD. And no, the Medic can Uber himself in dire situations, or to do the tactic 'Uberchaining'.**

 **T.U.M.B.: Have a free cake my friend, you are the first to notice the Easter egg. And no the cake isn't a lie(Bunkers self).**

 **Guest: And this is why I hate myself for forgetting to put 'Non-constructive criticism is going to be ignored' in my profile and/or story's first page.**

 **Goodbye for now!**


	10. The Other Side of The Teleporter

"Fuck! Need some help over here!"Engineer shouted as another buckshot round escaped his shotgun.

"We're busy!" Weiss shouted back.

"Killing Grimm!" Yang added. Another punch, another dead Beowolf. "Ah! Eat this!" She returned the favor of being slashed at with a point-blank blast to the Grimm's mask.

Engineer took a risk and glanced at the black sphere of Dark surrounding the White Reaper and her enemy."Shit, I sure hope Summer's doing fine over there…" He was promptly interrupted by an Ursa crashing into his face.

"Ruby, look out!" Looking up, Ruby barely got time to react as a large paw of an Ursa crashed down onto the spot her head was just a moment ago. "Thanks!" Ruby replied and rewarded the Grimm with a decapitated head. Nearby, Weiss casted a time dilation glyph on Blake while using Dust to summon Ice crystals and propel them towards the sea of Grimm encircling them.

"Weiss! Ice flower!" Ruby shouted out to her friend as she spots a large Ursa approaching. Weiss casted an ice glyph on the muzzle of Crescent Rose and Ruby pulled the trigger immediately thereafter. The result was a Dust round coated in Ice Dust flying through the air and striking the Ursa in the head. This was followed by multiple shots until the beast was completely immobilized.

"Engineer, Sentry here!"

"Got it Doc!" The Engineer pulled out a toolbox from literally out of nowhere and placed it on the ground. "Buildin' a sentry!" He pulled out his wrench and gave it a little swing, before bashing the tool against the toolbox. Through some magic and the logic of 'Hit something broken and it will fix itself', the toolbox accelerated its building speed of the sentry. The Lv 3 popped up a second later and began firing countless rounds at the wave of enemies around the group.

While the battle raged on outside, two figures encircled each other inside the dome of blackness. The Queen, also known as Salem, slowly paced around the careful figure of Summer Rose. Her silver eyes met the dark pupils of Salem. The Beringels stood by Salem's side as they watched the two.

 **"Shall we?"** Salem said with a fake politeness in her voice. Summer responded with a scoff. "I've been waiting." She drew the bowstring back and aimed it at her adversary. "Time for you to finally die." The Queen stopped her pacing and turned her head slowly towards the White Reaper. **"Not me."** Black and demonic looking wings started to sprout from Salem's back, with a slowly growing smile on her face. Her fingernails started to enlarge until they became white serrated claws and her teeth began to grow into ones of a Grimm.

 **"Begin."** Summer aimed and shot an arrow, but said arrow was caught by Salem and thrown back. Using her semblance, Summer blinked away and rolled away from a black projectile launched by Salem.

"Ugh!" A projectile grazed Summer's hand, but her Aura stopped it from causing much harm. She drew an arrow from her quiver and notched it onto her bow. She rapidly aimed down the red-dot sight and released the bowstring.

 **"Something like this wouldn't harm me, you should know!"** Salem's voice turned very ominous and deep, along with a slight echo to it. Her black wings continued to flap rhythmically as her outstretched hand launched projectile after projectile at the Rose.

"Yeah right, keep telling yourself that!" Summer taunted and fired a Fire Dust arrow at Salem. A grunt of pain proved that the arrow hit its mark. Salem commanded her wings to fly higher and swooped in on Summer. "Whoa!" Summer ducked just in time to avoid being clawed by the Queen's clawed hands.

" _Alright, stop playing._ " Summer said to herself, and risked closing her eyes for a moment. Once she opened it, her right eye started to glow brightly and her bow and arrows began to give off a white Aura. With speed, Summer drew three arrows at once and fired them at Salem. One arrow actually punched through the wings, earning her a grunt-scream of pain, while the others missed and hit the dome of black surrounding them.

 **"You think your Silver eyes can help you?!"** Salem reared her body back and swooped down to perform another claw attack, and this time managed to hit her enemy's aura. Not giving her a moment of respite, Salem continued to repeat this action with her speed increasing each time. To observers, this battle would've been nothing more than a blur completely unable to be seen by the naked eye.

"Shit!" Summer blinked around a claw, only to get surprised by yet another claw. She pulled out an arrow and held it where Salem's next attack is going to land, and stabbing her clawed hand. The metal alloy arrow broke upon contact with the Queen's hand, but still managed to weaken the Queen's Aura.

 **"My children, attack!"** The Beringels obeyed and charged towards the woman. She reacted by stabbing one through the eye with an arrow while jumping onto its back. It roared in pain, and attempted to use its hands to shake the woman off.

"Missed me!" She taunted, and proceeded to repeated stab the arrow in and out of the eye. She ducked down just in time for a swipe to pass by her head. Summer jumped off the back of the Grimm, her cape fluttering as she blinked into the middle of three Beringels. The Grimm saw her and swiped their fists at her, only to hit thin air as Summer blinked away. The Grimm did not have time to react as each of their respective fists continued on their trajectory and hit each other, the pure kinetic energy behind them snapping their necks.

"Hah!" Summer laughed, then turned back to Salem, who was visibly seething. The Queen of Grimm held her hand out, and multiple Beowolfs emerged from blobs of red liquid on the ground.

"More eh? You sure you don't want to surrender now?" Summer smirked as she taunted the Queen further. **"No. Charge."**

"Fuck this! Everybody, heads up!" The Engineer shouted as he pulled out a stick with a flashing red light on the tip from his pocket. "Incoming!" He threw the rod into the horde of Grimm surrounding them.

"Wha- Oh…" Spy said in realization as the rod hit the ground and promptly eaten by an Ursa. "What's that!?" Yang shouted from the other side of the battlefield.

"Ya'll gonna remember!" Engineer shot three more Beowolves with his shotgun and punched one in the face with the gunslinger. "Cavalry has arrived!" Demoman yelled and pointed at the sky. Everybody looked up, even the Grimm paused to observe the five burning objects flying towards them.

"I feel sad for ze Grimm zat swallowed ze stick…" Medic mumbled.

The Grimm started to howl and roar at the shape incoming, their minds not thinking about running away from imminent death via blunt force trauma from objects exceeding terminal velocity.

The shapes in the air slowly became recognized as the Dreadnoughts the mercenaries used during the Tsunami's invasion, leading Ruby to feel slightly weak in her knees as a thin line of drool began to drip down her mouth.

The Ursa that swallowed the rod was immediately crushed by the Engineer's Dreadnought, while the other four Dreadnoughts took out more Grimm, splattering black blood everywhere. The R.E.D. team members took the moment of confusion by the Grimm and climbed into their respective Dreadnoughts.

"Everybody get down!" Engineer yelled through the microphone. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang complied and dropped down to the ground, just as the Dreadnoughts began to wreck havoc on the Grimm's collective asses. The Engineer's rotary cannon mowed down Grimm by the bullet, while the Medic set up a shield around themselves to allow the Dreadnoughts to fire outwards while keeping out the Grimm.

The Demoman's Dreadnought continuously fired grenade after grenade at the crowd of Grimm surrounding them. "WOOOOO! DIE!" The Pyro activated both flamethrowers on its arms, burning and outright melting the flesh of the Grimm. Team RWBY clambered inside the shield, as carnage unfolded around them.

The bullet hell and massacre continued for around a minute or so before finally stopping.

"… That… WAS AWESOME!" Ruby squealed loudly. Blake covered her ears with her hands as her hyper-sensitive cat ears began twitching violently from Ruby's voice. Ruby saw this and apologized.

"Wait! Mom!" Yang ran over to the dome of pure black, and touched it. A large shockwave suddenly ripped through the air, knocking everyone, including the Dreadnoughts, backwards.

"Shit! Let me try!" The Engineer then raised the Dreadnought's rotary cannon and began firing, but the bullets did nothing more than do nothing.

"We gotta get in there! Mom probably needs help!" Ruby yelled to her teammates, just as the dome collapsed. "Huh?" An arrow flew right over her head and impacted the Demoman's Dreadnought's hull, denting it a slight bit. The arrow was then followed up by a roar of anger and more arrows sailing through the air.

The White Reaper jumped out of the dome while still drawing and firing arrows at her adversary, while the Queen used her wings to maneuver out of their way. Summer's right eye was glowing a bright white, while her clothes were tattered and torn.

"Need some help over here!" Summer screamed over to the mercenaries. The pilots quickly raised their robotic weaponry and began firing at Salem. Scowling, Salem flew over to the Demoman's Dreadnought and began tearing through the armor with her claws. "What!?" The Demoman narrowly ducked a claw going straight through the hull of the cockpit and out of the view screen, causing sparks to fly everywhere. Grunting a bit from pain, the Demoman opened the hatch and jumped out, leaving the Dreadnought pilotless. This all happened within the span of five seconds, and after the Queen was done with literally tearing apart the Dreadnought which took only three seconds more, she quickly flew over to the rotary cannon of the Engie's Dreadnought and cut off the entire arm with one swipe of her claw. This was repeated until the Dreadnought had no limbs left, while the others continued to fire at the Queen, who dodged every single attack or bullet.

 **"So pathetic."** The Queen tore through the Medic's Dreadnought and splitting it in half, exposing the Medic who was quickly beheaded by a claw slice. "NO! Weiss! Use Ice dust on her! Try to slow her down!"

"Got it, Ruby!" Weiss revolved her Dust chamber to Ice Dust and casted a glyph over Salem and casted Ice Dust. The Dust successfully slowed the Grimm-woman down, but was quickly clawed off by her. "It's not working!"

The Queen seemingly teleported when the Spy's Dreadnought was about to drive a large knife into her back, and ripped the cockpit off the hip of the machine. She then threw the hunk of metal she held in her hands toward a nearby building and continued onto to destroy Pyro's Dreadnought by forcibly redirecting the flamethrower towards itself and melting the hull.

"Everyone! Run!" The White Reaper yelled out to everybody as she stepped between the Beacon students and professors and the Queen. "RUN!" The words could not get out of her mouth sooner, as the Queen sliced a claw through her Aura, and shattering it completely. The weak body of Summer Rose fell down onto the floor. "MOM!" Without even missing a beat, the Queen raised her hand and sliced at Summer Rose.

Ruby watched as what was once her mother's right arm turn into a lifeless hunk of flesh as it flew off the stump that once held the arm. Anything below the Rose's elbow was disconnected from her body. The older Rose was helpless as a scream escaped her lips, making Salem smile a sadistic glee. Ruby prepped Crescent Rose and was about to recoil-jump forward, but Salem's hand glowed before all of the surviving fighters were held by an invisibly force.

 **"Yes, yes! Scream! I want your final death to be the most painful! And most of all…"** Salem picked the almost dead body by the neck, and looked the suffering female in the eye. It's silver pupils lost the glow that they once held. **"Your daughters will be watching."**

Finishing her monologue, Salem raised her other hand and turned Summer's body around so that her daughters and the others could see her final look. The Queen started to laugh maniacally, eyes widening and brought the claw down to the Rose's head.

Ruby watched this scene unfold in slow motion. The world around her seemed to darken and grey, the Queen's supposedly quick movements slowed to a snail's pace. The claw slowly cutting through the air, inches before reaching her mother's neck.

"No…" A thought began forming in her mind as tears began forming.

"No… No…" Her mother was lost once, and she was about to lose her again.

"No…" The look of sadness in her mother's eyes, the watering corners of her vision.

Suddenly, she felt a feeling erupt throughout her body. Something she never felt before. Not sadness, not despair, and certainly not surprise. No, what she felt…

She felt power.

Ruby remembered the day that her Aura was unlocked by Taiyang, her father.

 _"For it is passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."_ The second the words were uttered by her father, the same feeling arose, giving the young Ruby, who was only eight at the time, a sense of power, the feeling that anything is possible, and that she could conquer everything.

This was the feeling the Ruby now was feeling.

Gathering all the lung power she has, Ruby screamed at the very top of her voice.

"NO!"

Her vision whitened, but before her view was fully painted a bright white, Ruby could make out the shape of Salem dropping Summer down to the ground and looking surprised.

And scared.

The vision turned to white briefly, before darkness overtook her.

"Ugh, scheisse! Glad ze AutoRev vorks." The Medic, now with head attached to his body, slowly crawled out of the cockpit. What's left of it anyways. He took in the view around him. The first thing he saw was the damaged hull of his Dreadnought.

"Huh? How zid- Ooh. Oh." The second was that Team RWBY was lying down on the ground. His comrades' Dreadnoughts were all destroyed and wrecked as well, pieces of metal scattered around the battlefield. "Ugh, guys! Vake up!" He stood up, but felt a burning pain in his legs. "Ah!" He stumbled back to the ground. He looked at the offending leg, only to see a sharp metal rod extruding out of it.

Wincing from the pain, the Medic brought out his Medigun and directed it at himself before pushing the handle. The healing beam connected with his body and he felt rejuvenated. The rod in his leg was forced out and the hole left behind quickly grew back.

"Ja, much better!" He stood up with no problem and made his way over to Team RWBY, before remembering something crucial. "Schiesse! Summer!" He ran over to the lifeless body of the woman and kneeled down next to it.

He ran a finger across the neck. "Good, zere is a pulse. A veak one." He quickly pushed the handle on the Medigun and watched as the bloodied skin and gashes visibly healed themselves. But, there is a peculiar matter. "Why isn't ze arm growing back!?" He almost shouted at the sight of the stump that was her elbow not extending into a forearm.

"Interesting." He said after he took a closer look at the stump. Instead of a normal bloodied stump, Summer's was a black goo-y substance, with black veins protruding out of it and connecting to the immediate area of the elbow, which is her arm.

Before he could make any further examinations, the patient woke up and kicked the German in the chin. The now awake Summer looked at the Medic before apologizing. "Oh Dust, I'm sorry!" She said before noticing something. Or rather, a lack of.

"Huh? Where's my -AHH!" Summer gave a small scream when she noticed the empty space below her elbow where the rest of her arm should be. "Fucking Salem! Ruby! Where are they?! Are they okay!?"

"I think so, they zon't look injured." He replied. Completely ignoring her current predicament, the woman rushed over to her daughter's prone figures and shook them. Yang was the first to wake up, and the first to scream at the sight of the severed arm. Ruby however, could not wake up.

"Medic! Ruby isn't waking up!"

"Huh!? Alright, I'm calling for ze evac.

 **Sometime later**

"Come in." Weiss did so, followed by her teammates. "Good morning Mrs. Rose." She curtly bowed. Said woman was sitting by an unconscious Ruby, who was lying on the stark white mattress of Beacon's infirmary. "Heyo." Yang said from the other side of the room as she looked outside the window.

"Good morning Weiss, and please, no need to call me that, makes me feel old." Summer replied with a sad smile. "How are you holding up?"

Weiss looked a bit surprised that the woman in front of her would ask her a question. "Well, the nurse says that we only had Aura exhaustion, should be okay in a few days. Ruby though…"

"Yeah… This is the third day now, and she still hasn't woken up." Summer picked up a mug on the bedside table and sipped from it, the hot chocolate flowing down her tongue really soothed the bitterness she was feeling for the past couple of days.

"… So…" Weiss stole a glance at her partner's mother's arm. Rather, what's left of it. "What did the doctor say about your… arm?" Yang, who stood by the window, answered instead.

"Doc says that its some sort of infection. Nothing they've ever seen." Weiss and Blake were slightly taken aback by the tone Yang, the normally cheerful and fun-loving person, now used, a tone which carried no emotion except despair.

"Basically? I'm patient zero, and there's no cure."

"…" Nobody really talked for a moment, as WB of RWBY fidgeted awkwardly. The only sound in the sterile white room was the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor hooked up to the comatose Ruby, accompanied by the quaint chirping of birds outside the window.

"Hmm?" Summer looked up when the beeping intensified. "What the-" Yang strode over to her sister's side, looking at the monitor in slight confusion and shock. The heart rate picked up dramatically.

"Dust! Call the doctor! Quickly!" Weiss rushed out of the room and into the room next to theirs, while Blake stood up frantically from her chair. The doctor came running in as Weiss followed closely behind.

"What's going on!?" The doctor asked immediately. He answered himself when he looked over to the heart rate monitor. The heart rate suddenly ticked down to a steady pace, returning to the normal heart rate. "… What?" The doctor walked over to the patient's body and checked the pulse.

"Nothing out of the ordinary…" Just as his hand left Ruby's, the heart rate monitor began to let out a shrill continuous beep. "Oh shit! Everybody clear out!" The others did as told, as the doctor reached into a cabinet and pulled out a pair of defibrillators.

In the middle of counting down, the door to the room got busted down, and Medic came entering with his Quick-fix in hand. Without saying anything, he aimed the Medigun variant at Ruby's unconscious body, flicked a switch near the bottom handle and pushed the activation handle. The beam was sparkling with electricity and energy as the healing fluid attached itself to Ruby's body

"What are you doing?!" Summer, Yang and the Beacon doctor shouted at the Medic simultaneously. The Medic replied by saying, "Performing medicine."

The body of Ruby promptly began to jerk, while the heart rate monitor stopped the continuous and drawn-out beeping and began to beep normally.

Just as Summer was about to tackle Medic down, Ruby suddenly woke up and sat up. Summer turned mid-run and instead ran over to her daughter's body. "Ruby!"

"Ah! What happened!?" Said girl shouted out.

"…" The doctor simply stood there slack-jawed, while the Medic stood beside him with a smug grin on his face. The doctor slowly turned to the German. "What did you use and where can I buy one?" He managed to say.

 **Several minutes later**

"Alright, sign here and you'll be discharged." The nurse at the reception told Ruby, who signed her name on the paper. "Thank you."

The nurse glanced at Summer pitifully. "Ma'am, I'm sorry." Summer smiled grimly and nodded, to which the nurse returned.

As they were about to exit the Beacon infirmary, the R.E.D. Team members walked in. "Hey! Heard ya got discharged. Came here to welcome yah." Engie said.

"Yea, thanks to Medic though." Ruby smiled at the German who returned the gesture.

"But…" Everybody looked at Summer's elbow. "Zere's still zis to vorry about."

 **Team R.E.D.'s dorm room**

"So, yer got 'ny ideas fer Summer?" Demoman asked the Medic, who shook his head.

"My Medigun isn't vorking on her, and if she dies, I vorry zat the infection vould not allow me to revive her." He answered grimly.

"C'mon team, we'll think of this. Eventually, we'll come up with an idea."

The Medic let out a dark chuckle at his comrade's words. "I appreciate your optimism, Dell, but vat vill happen if ve can't fix zis vorries me."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Nobody spoke. Spy was counting his Lien, Engineer went back to tinkering with his Gunslinger, Demoman read up on Dust explosions, Medic continued to load syringes into cartridges, and Pyro is being Pyro.

"Wait." Spy stopped everyone in what they were doing, and looked at him. "Engie."

Said man raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"You were pretty close with Soldier, aren't you?" The Engineer nodded. "So I take it that you know Merasmus well?" Demoman slowly contemplated poisoning the Spy's next meal.

"Uh… Pretty well? Solly told me he dabbled in dark magic a lot. Like every year." Engineer added the last part. "We know." Medic said from his bed.

"So, do you think that he will help us cure Summer?"

"… Spy, why in god's name do you think that sonuvabitch will help us?"

"Money. Because think about it, every year, he owes either the mafia, Yakuza, Italian gangsters, or Italian Yakuza Mafia a ton of money. There all gonna be after his head, so if we pay him, he'll help us."

"But I already tricked him last time with fake gold. He'll probably von't fall for it again." Medic added in.

"I got a plan. So, we go for it?" Spy asked his team. Everybody looked between each other, and sighed collectively. "Guess there's no other option. C'mon guys, start packin'."

"Ve'll need to bring along Summer for ze ride." Engineer nodded at the Medic, and walked out of his room and headed down to Team RWBY's dorm room.

 **Team RWBY's Dorm Room**

"Hm? I'll go get it." Blake said as she walked over to the door and twisted the handle, opening the door. "Professor Engineer?"

"Hi, just wanted to tell ya'll something." He motioned to Summer, who was sitting on Ruby's bed. She jumped down to the ground and strode over to the Texan. "What do you want?"

The Engineer sighed. "Sit down." Summer and the other girls did as he told. He took a seat on Yang's bed, and sighed yet again.

"Your arm. We might have a cure for it." Everybody's eyes collectively widened. Yang jumped at the chance. "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go get that cure!" Yang sat up with determination in her eyes. "Please, sit down first, I'm not finished." Yang reluctantly did so.

"Now, do you remember Merasmus?"

Ruby raised her hand. "The wizardy guy that revived my mother?" Engineer nodded.

"Now, he's a wizard, more specifically a dark wizard, meaning he dabbles a lot in dark magic." Weiss scoffed slightly at the mention of magic.

"Sooo, we might be able to bribe him into helping us, by removing that infection o' yours." Summer looked down to her bandaged elbow.

"What are we waiting for then!? Let's go find him!" Ruby said excitedly, jumping down from her bed and almost running out the door.

"Well then, better start packing. We're going on a trip."

"Huh? A trip to where?"

Engineer smiled broadly. "The Badlands."

 **The Next Morning**

"I still can't believe you convinced Professor Ozpin to let us go along." Weiss said to the Spy. She was wearing a small white backpack, with the SDC emblem on it. Ruby walked alongside her with a slight bounce in her steps, while she carried a small brown backpack.

Yang had the largest backpack out of the group, saying 'My hair care products are never leaving my side' or something. Blake had an alicepack strapped to her back, while Summer carried along a red and white highlight travelpack.

"Meh, I only said it was an extracurricular activity, so we're all set. He did have some requests though." Spy and the others had virtually no luggage at all, only electing to bring some weaponry and ammo. Lots of it. In places where no one knows except themselves.

"What is it?" Weiss questioned the assassin, who took a puff of smoke before answering. "That I take a few items from Earth, preferably a gasoline sample and gunpowder."

Weiss nodded, and the group continued to walk to their destination, the one room in Team R.E.D.'s garage that nobody ever went since Heavy, Sniper, Scout and Soldier left Remnant.

"Alright, step right on that." Engineer gestured to the Enhanced Teleporter, which had a green glow surrounding it.

"Ladies first." Spy said, giving room for the females in the room.

"Soo… Who's gonna go first?" Ruby asked, to which Yang promptly volunteered and stepped on. "Don't worry mom, it's safe!" She managed to get out before she disappeared in a flash of green light.

Summer went in next, followed by Ruby, Blake, and – reluctantly – Weiss, then the rest of the RED mercenaries followed.

Engineer was the last to leave, and made sure to lock the ballistic steel door using magnetic locks and stepped through, leaving the room devoid of life.

 **Unknown Location**

The room was empty, nothing but dust, the dirty sort, littered the creaky wooden floors. Suddenly, the room was engulfed in a bright green light. When the light subsidized, a feminine figure stepped off the long since unused teleporter.

"Alright!" Yang whooped a bit, then looked around the room. She was interrupted when another blast of light engulfed the room, this time her step mother walked out of the teleporter.

"*Cough* *Cough* Ah! So dusty!"

Soon, the entire gang was here, including Team R.E.D.

"Hmm, we should be in a RED base right now." Engineer muttered as he reached out for the door handle. "Shield ya eyes, might get a lil' bright out there."

Taking a deep breath, he twisted the handle…

And promptly discovered the door was locked. He took the shotgun out, and unloaded a shell of buckshot at the door, then proceeding to kick it down.

"Argh!" He grunted slightly as he covered his eyes with his hands, before slowly lowering them. "Ho ho ho…"

"My friends." He turned around to face the others in the room.

"Welcome to the Badlands!"

 **A few Minutes Later**

"Alright, they should be in here…" The Engineer rapped the metal shutter three times. Some movement and shuffling could be heard behind the thin wall of metal before loud footsteps erupted. "Yep they're here."

The metal sheet raised up to reveal the Heavy, who after saw his old teammate, immediately bear hugged him.

*CRACK*

"AH! Heavy! Back! Spine!"

That happened.

"Ah! Doctor!" Heavy bear hugged Medic.

Another spine. Demoman, Spy and Pyro ran off.

"So what brings ya back to the Badlands, eh mate?" Sniper said as he took a sip from his coffee mug. A minute had passed, and the mercenaries were sitting on wooden crates inside the spawn room.

"Yeah! Livin' over at Beacon's pretty nice, why'd ya come over here?" Scout asked, tossing a baseball up into the air and catching it. "Missed us? Of course ya did, c'mon admit it, ya missed me." Scout added with a genuine smile.

"Well, we were hopin' we could ask the Soldier for a favor…"

"SOMEONE CALLED MY NAME?!" The door leading to the bathroom got kicked off its hinges, and out walked the man with more than a thousand Nazi kills under his belt.

His gruff faced turned happy when his sight landed on the five ex-mercenaries, snapping into a salute. "Engie! Nurse! Pyro! French bastard!"

Spy facepalmed. "Ugh…"

"And you drunken Scot!" Soldier walked over to the Demoman and put his right hand over the Scotsman's shoulder. "How'd ya been?"

"Fine, laddie! How yer doin'?" The man replied in heart.

"It's good to see you again, Dell." Sniper said as he smiled at the team's antics. The Engineer gave a light chuckle at that. "Agreed. Don't you think Pyro?"

The person – Or thing – in question looked up from its lighter and gave a nod. "Mmph!"

"I'll take that as a yes." The Engineer crossed his arms as the Soldier and Demoman continued to exchange banter. Team RWBY plus S was sitting on a bench nearby, watching the mercenaries interact with each other.

"They sure look happy to see each other." Blake noted, earning the other's agreement. "How's your arm mom?" Ruby looked at Summer, who gave a smile. "A bit itchy, but that's it." Ruby nodded at her mother, while Weiss was seemingly bothered.

"Weiss, what's wrong? You look bothered." Weiss looked surprised for a moment before recomposing herself. "What's wrong? We're in another world, Ruby. How does that fact not concern you? I-I mean-"

"Weiss, just think of it like a trip, we'll be back in Remnant before you know it!" Ruby exclaimed cheerfully, but looked a little glum after looking at her mother.

Three knocks were heard from the door. "Hm?"

"I'll go get it." Scout stood up from his seat and walked over to the door with his hand extended. He grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

"Huh? Miss Pauling?"

 **A/N: Yay! New chapter! All of you that wanted to see the mercs, well now you get the chance! Next chapter we'll see Merasmus, and a person without a head. Guess who that is. You probably already know.**

 **Reviews!**

 **Up n Down: A creeper is a Grimm, if you want to see what it looks like, its the Grimm that Yang landed on and jumped off of in Chapter 12 of Volume 2. The Queen, spoilers if you haven't watched RWBY volume 3 to the end, is the woman that you see in the last scene(not the after credits scene), speaking to Ozpin. As for tips on Pyro, don't try to charge Heavies head on. Just don't. As well as learn the map, learn of any flank routes and use those routes to surprise the enemy. Also learn airblast, F**k those Soldiers up. That's all the pretty basic things you need to know about Pyro. As for CSGO, don't consult me. I suck at it. As for DoTA 2, I ulti'ed a creep. Thats how bad I am.**

 **No more reviews this time :(, keep em coming so I can improve!**

 **As always, thank you for taking your time to read this and I hope you have a good day!"**

 **B/N: IT'S THE MOTHERFUCKING BETA HERE! Hi guys, it's chief of RAGE fixing up this fine Malaysian's chapter up for him cuz' me n him are like close now. (No gay, plz). I say this shit is going ham as fuck up in this bitch. (That means it's going good.) Okay, that's it. I don't have much to say other than I still BETA for him. Bye. (disappears into mist, then a crashing noise)** _ **FUCK! MY KNEE! Oh my knee... ugh... FUCK THIS CHAIR! (punches chair, hand hurts)... FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!**_


	11. Wizardry

**A/N: I'mma make up where Merasmus lives, because who gives a fuck? Also because I doubt Merasmus would've moved out of the house he resides in after Solly killed his roommate, preferably inside an old keep!**

"Miss Pauling? Why are you here? And why do you have a shotgun in your hand?"

 **BANG**

"AHH!"

The headless body of Scout lied on the ground as blood continued to ooze out of the severed head. The Remnant natives all pulled out their weapons, but upon seeing the mercenaries just stand there while their comrades were murdered, became hesitant to do so.

"Greetings Manquer Pauling, why are you here? And why did you kill Scout?" Spy pointed at the body at his feet quizzically.

"Wait, what!? Someone walks in and kills your friend and you just ask her why she did that?! What!?" Summer screamed as she made gestures to the still dead Scout.

 **BZZT**

"Ugh! Y'know, dying ain't a pleasant experience! The RSPWN doesn't help soothe pain Pauling! Also, what the hell was that crap for!?" Scout casually walked out of a room while using a hand to cover his yawn. Summer looked between the clearly dead body of Scout and the young man, before throwing her arms up in defeat.

"I don't even know anymore."

Miss Pauling shot a glare at the man before smirking. "That, was for spending my one day off and making me get hurt from fighting a bread monster." Ruby stifled a giggle from the sidelines, while Yang looked about to burst into laughter.

"Okay, who the hell are they, and why are they here?" Pauling turned to Spy, who opened his mouth to answer. "Don't tell me classified." He shut his mouth.

"Uhhh, ay-hey, do ya remember when we suddenly disappeared?" The woman nodded, throwing a glance at the group nearby. "Well, they, uh, are the natives of that world. Yeah, natives!" Engineer finished, sporting an awkward smile on his face. The ex-mercs then introduced the members of Team RWBY along with Summer to the lady.

Miss Pauling slowly nodded. "Okay… But why are they here? Also, you shouldn't be here as well, The Administrator fired you!"

"Well… We kinda need to find Merasmus," Pauling's face turned to confusion. "… To help cure her 'infection'." Engineer pointed at Summer, who was looking between them.

"Okay. So why are you still here then?"

"We wanted to say 'hi' to our friends here, been a few months already."

Miss Pauling looked like she wanted to pry further but chose not to, instead pulling out a small two-barreled pistol and shot it the Scout, earning a pained scream from him and a shocked one from Ruby.

"Oh, sorry you had to see that." Pauling smiled warmly at the girl before waiting for the distinctive sound the RSPWN makes.

 **BZZT**

"Ow! Wha-" Another shot rang out, and the Scout was once again dead on the ground. "I going to kill him a lot more times. 2 down, 8 to go." She said nonchalantly as she loaded in two more bullets into the pistol.

 **BZZT**

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO-" Another bullet hit the Scout in the face yet again. Now there's three bodies on the ground now.  
"It's because of the Author!" Soldier answered the dead boy's question. Everybody slowly turned their heads towards the man, while said person was looking like he just stated the most obvious thing in the world.

"The who?" Sniper voiced out everybody's question, while Soldier stared at the Australian like he was crazy. "The Author!"

"Yes, yes ve know, but _who_ is 'Ze Author'?" Medic asked.

"The one person who makes everything happen! See! He's writing what I'm saying right now!" He raised a fist at the air. "Stop writing what I said!"

"Spy, put him down." Spy immediately complied to Miss Pauling's order. "A pleasure." He aimed the Ambassador at the Soldier's head, before seemingly hesitating. Something clicked in Spy's head, and he set down the intricately carved revolver back into… Well wherever it's supposed to be placed.

"Wait why didn't you- Oh… Yea right…" Pauling also figured out why, and shut up, while the Remnant natives were confused.

 **BZZT**

"Oh! Right, I forgot." Pauling raised the pistol at Scout, who was hoping to be unnoticed by the woman. "No no no-!" Bullet out of the barrel.

 **BZZT**

"Right! Engie, ya said ya need to find Merasmus right? Well ya better bring along Soldier. He knows where he's at. Right Solly?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes! Of course!" A pause. "… What are we talking about?"

Sniper sighed and explained what he just asked, and the Soldier responded with, "Of course I do! He always sends me mail to where he's living to tell me to keep out! And to think that he thought a small warning written in red ink would stop me! HAHAHA!"

Ruby and her team were having a silent conversation among themselves, while Summer listened by the sidelines.

"I know Soldier's a mentally insane guy, but that is insane that the person had to _mail_ him letters to tell him to keep out? That's a new level." Yang quietly whispered, everyone nodding alongside her. Even Weiss, who had almost always retorted, accepted it.

"Okay, who's going to bring them to Merasmus' house? Soldier is a given, who else?"

"Me. I could drive the van." Sniper raised his hand.

"I vill go, I need to find out more about zis infection, in the name of –"

"Medicine, I get it. Who else? No?" A plastic gloved hand raised up. "Pyro? Why?"

Engineer leaned in and the Pyro 'Mmmph'ed' into his ear, before the Texan relayed the translation. "He… She… Pyro wants to go, says that… It wanted to meet Merasmus."

Pauling mentally did the calculations. "Okay, that could be allowed… Now, the rest of you stay here, you need to guard this base against BLU Team attacks, as they have been relentless lately. Don't let Upwards fall to their hands, we have a large deposit of weapons here."

"Will do ma'am." Everybody chorused.

Pauling saw several worried looks on the mercs' faces. "Don't worry, I'll sort this out with the Administrator. As for you, Summer, you owe me a favor for this." She smirked at the Rose, who smiled.

 **Five Minutes Later**

"Alright, grabbed the supplies ve need? Food?"

"Check." Sniper sounded off everything they were supposed to bring for the length of the trip. Medic used a marker and ticked every box they have on the clipboard, and put it down. "Good! Ve can go now!"

"Mister Sniper, this van doesn't seem to be that big outside, but in the inside it's huge!" Exclaimed Ruby, referencing the immense space inside the van.

Sniper chucked nervously at the driver's seat. "Hehe, yeah…"

 **Meanwhile**

"How the hell did Sniper fit these things in that darn van of his?!"

"Wha- Heavy needs help carrying bed!"

"What is this?! Hammer space?! AHH! HOW MANY JARS OF URINE CAN HE FIT IN THAT CLOSET!"

 **With Sniper**

"Yeah… Really big space, that's all!" He cracked a nervous smile at the girls. His smile immediately turned into a frown as the Soldier opened the car door rather harshly, and sat down on the front passenger seat. "What are you waiting for?! Charge!"

Sniper let out an exasperated sigh. "Alrighty, Soldier. Everyone in?" A chorus of yells responded to him. "Good! We're headin' off now! See ya in a few days!" He waved to his other remaining comrades and put his foot down.

 **With Team RWBY+S**

"Wonder how his driving is?" Ruby commented, which Yang scoffed at.

"Pfft, Bumblebee could beat this old hunk a' junk any day!" Yang's comment was immediately met by harsh retribution from the Sniper in the driver seat, his voice audible through the small opened window leading to the driving compartment.

"Oh yea! What's her top?" She heard him yell. Smirking, she boasted about her beloved motorcycle's specs.

Medic looked at her with pleading eyes. "Yang, for the love of God, please zon't." Pyro 'Mmph'ed' along with him in seeming agreement.

"Oh, and she can reach up to 280!"

"Hah! You call that fast?! Lemme show ya' what this old sheila here can do!" Sniper laughed devilishly before reaching out for a small concealed button. He told Soldier and the others to buckle in, to which the American responded with: 'Seat belts are for pussies!'.

"Your choice." Sniper said before pressing the button with his index finger. He switched the gear, and pushed his feet down ever more.

"Buckle in? Why- AHH!" Yang immediately took her word back. By the speed the scenery was moving away from them through the window, Yang estimated that this vehicle was speeding at over _370_ KM/H **(Around 229MPH)** What's more, this van accelerated from around 10 to this obscene number in three seconds.

Sniper hooted as he stopped the speeding vehicle after around ten seconds in that G-force filled drive. "That was fun, eh ladies?" Sniper turned around in his seat, and heard the back door open, violently. He leaned his head out of the window and saw a sight to behold.

The scenery had changed from a deserted desert area to a relatively quaint farmland, with a small village observable near the horizon. Several farmers were working hard in the fields, and a few even waved to the van. Sniper's attention wasn't focused on the scenery though. He was more caught up by the puking forms of Team RWBY, Summer Rose, and Medic.

"Mmmph Mnph mmph." Pyro traced circles on Summer's back, who in turn was tracing fingers on Ruby's back.

After a full minute of puking and emptying of stomachs, the Remnant natives and the two other mercenaries climbed back into the van.

"Can't handle a little bit of speed? Jeez…" Sniper immediately felt multiple pairs of eyes on him.

"If you're not someone I knew, I would've killed you right now." The normally stoic Blake said with demonic darkness in her voice as her hand twitched above Gambol Shroud.

"Might I remind you, Professor Sniper, that I can easily sue your family in less than a day!"

"Please, Weiss, call me Sniper. And my family doesn't live in Remnant. Hah! Jokes on yah." Sniper smiled in victory at the angry face Weiss made, before turning his view back to the windscreen.

"This here is Teufort. The farmlands of Teufort, to be exact. That lil' town over there is the main area, Teufort Town, and damn that's a lotta Teuforts in a sentence." Sniper added the last part absent-mindedly, as he stepped on the gas yet again.

"So Soldier, where are we going?" Ruby asked, to which Soldier answered to. "We're going to find that Wizard… Here!" Soldier held up a map for the passengers to see, and his index finger is pointed at a small 'X' on the map, with the words 'WIZARD LADY' written in bright red.

"… And there is?"

"Colorado, Canon city." Everyone nodded.

"We're about six hours out, get some rest. You'll need it when you meet Merasmus. _And a lot of painkillers_." Sniper muttered the last part under his breath, as he felt around in his breast pocket for a packet of strong fast-acting painkillers.

"Say, Sniper? How'd you get a fridge inside here to work? There's no electricity." Summer asked from the passenger compartment as she opened up the fridge for snacks.

"I use a generator that Engie built, could last a whole year with only one liter of petroleum, comes in a small size of around a palm as well."

"Huh? That doesn't make any sense! How could you fit a liter of this… Petroleum, inside something so small?! That's physically impossible!" Weiss yelled back, making everyone save for Soldier recoil back at the sheer loudness of her voice.

"That's what I kept yelling to him!" Sniper replied with an equally loud voice. Though unlike Weiss' tone, the Australian's carried a sense of humor alongside it.

Medic watched silently as he read over a small report he wrote up about the infection of Summer's arm, while his other hand twirled a small syringe absent-mindedly. Blake was reading, in her words, 'A well written beautiful piece of literature which represents the deep development of a relationship' which can be compressed to: 'Smut'.

Yang raised a finger. "Oh! Sniper! Whaddya' do when you came back to… Earth? Is that what this place is called?" Sniper thought about it for a moment, before answering.

"Well, our employer, we only know her as the Administrator, ordered us to keep watch over the base we were just in, Upwards. Strange name, yeah. She said we would be paired with a bunch a' other mercs, though they never arrived… Anyways, it was just me, Heavy, Scout and Soldier defending that base from… If I'm not mistaken, around ten attempted attacks."

"You messed up your English." Weiss bluntly said.

"Hey hey, don't be a grammar Nazi." Sniper retorted, but his eyes widened dramatically after he realized the grave mistake he made. "Shit!" Sniper looked over to Soldier, who suddenly took out his shotgun, kicked open the door, rushed out of the van, and began firing off random shots at the air.

"NAZIS! WHERE!? I'LL SHOW THOSE DIRTY SCUMBAG-" He was silenced by an SMG shot to the head, the 9mm shot straight into the exposed part of his neck. Sniper opened the door to his left and slowly made his way to the Soldier's dead body, while the others watched intently and disgustedly inside the van, save for Medic and Pyro.

Sniper knelt down, and checked for a pulse. There was one, so he stood up and emptied a full magazine into the Soldier's head. He checked for a pulse again.

"Alright, no pulse. It's safe now Medic." Medic walked out of the back of the van, and began to pull out his Medigun, before Sniper caught sight of a twitch on Soldier's dead body.

"Shit! Get back! His Nazi killing lust isn't gone!" Sniper said, before pulling the Soldier out of view of the girls and pumping the Soldier with so much lead, you can't identify the face anymore. After seeing that he _still_ has a pulse, Sniper sighed as something clicked in his mind.

"Ugh, I forgot about the pills…" Sniper angrily stood up and walked over to Medic.

"Alright, begin the process."

"Hehe…" Medigun trained on the body, Medic revived the Soldier who is apparently not dead after having approximately 50 9mm rounds embedded in his head. Said man's body jerked for a moment before sitting up with a start. "What!? What happened!?"

"Nothing, kamarad. Come on, ve still haven't reached out destination." Medic offered Soldier a hand, which he accepted and pulled himself up.

"We don't have all day mates! C'mon, if we're fast we make it there before sundown." Sniper yelled from the driver's seat, urging the two outside to get in.

"Mister Soldier? Could I look at your gun?" Ruby asked from her seat. Soldier scoffed and gave a chuckle. "I don't think a kid like you could handle the manliness of my weapon." A short laugh exploded from Sniper's mouth.

Ruby pouted and crossed her arms. "Hmph! I'm sure I can handle it, besides, I drink milk!"

Nearby, all the females in the passenger compartment blushed up a storm, save for Ruby, as the unintentional innuendo flew right by her head. "R-R-Rubes, please, d-don't say it like that." Summer awkwardly stuttered, while the males in the van laughed their collective asses off. Except for Pyro. Because Pyro's Pyro.

"What?" Ruby, being the ever-so innocent soul she is.

"N-Nothing! Just get some rest, you'll need it." Sniper said between chokes of laughter, as he looked at Ruby through the rear-view mirror.

 **Night – Sniper's van**

"Wakey-wakey, Rubes." Summer gently woke Ruby up from her peaceful, albeit slightly rough slumber.

"Had a good sleep?"

"Yep, dreamt about cookies and cookies… Ah…" Summer gently ruffled Ruby's hair, making the younger Rose giggle.

"Alright, we're about five more miles out. Wake the others." The two in the passenger compartment did so and woke up Weiss, Blake, Yang, Medic and Pyro, who was hugging a giant lollipop.

"Wait, where he'd get that?" Summer asked, to which Sniper replied. "We don't know, it just appears outta nowhere. Also, don't even try to figure out Pyro's name, gender, or any personal information generally. It's for your own good." Both Roses collectively felt a shiver down their spines. If the Pyro can even scare the mercenaries, who have faced off Grimm like insects, and decimated a large number of enemies alone, then they're better off following Sniper's advice.

"Wake up, kitty-cat, I've got some catnip!" Blake's eyelids immediately shot open, and almost pounced on Yang. Blake grumbled before saying, "Sleep with one eye open, bimbo…"

"How far are we out?" Weiss, now woken from her sleep, poked her head into the driving compartment. Sniper sighed and answered the question. "Five miles, should reach there in about ten minutes."

"Hmm… I'm interested, what can this petroleum be used for?"

Sniper answered without stopping. "Mostly used for fuel. Could be used for generating electricity as well, like that generator Engie built."

"Then what about your electrical appliances? What do you use to power them?" Weiss pressed on her quest for knowledge.

"Well, we use batteries to power them. Or we just plug them into an electrical socket and boom, electricity." Weiss continued to pry information out of a continuously frustrated Sniper, until they reached their destination."

"Alright, we're here. Grab your weapons, better be prepared…"

"Why? We're only meeting him, not attacking him!" Ruby said. Sniper glanced at her sideways. "Let's just say we aren't in pretty good terms with this wizard…" Sniper trailed off, looking at the old-run down stone building in front of him.

"Just keep quiet and ve can enter vithout much problems-"

"MERASMUS! YOUR OLD FRIEND, SOLDIER IS HERE TO SEE YOU!" Everyone winced as the Soldier's voice boomed across the courtyard leading up to the medieval period keep on the hill.

"Schiesse, Soldier! I said keep quiet!"

"But if we keep quiet, he won't be able to hear us!"

Medic briefly contemplated stabbing his Ubersaw through the Soldier's cranium but decided against it.

"WHA- SOLDIER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! GET OUT! GET OUT! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" A frightened and panicked voice came from the top of the keep's walls, as Merasmus himself (Herself according to Soldier) peeked his head out from the top.

"WAIT, WAIT I M-MEAN NOBODY'S HERE! THERE ARE NO WIZARDS HERE WHO ARE CONDUCTING ILLEGAL BLACK MAGIC! NO! TOTALLY NOBODY!" The voice said again.

"Y'know, I'm starting to wonder, how can someone this stupid and mentally incapable of logic be a threat to you?" Summer asked the German besides her, who is currently face palming so hard the slapping sound echoed across the _empty_ courtyard.

Said courtyard had a long pathway leading uphill to the keep, while there stood a fountain in the middle of the stone-paved path. Instead of the green grass one would expect from a courtyard, the grass growing there are all dried and brown, an example followed by the trees, which are also dried and leafless.

"ALRIGHT! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO MOVE, THEN I'll MAKE YOU MOVE! HORSELESS HEADLESS HORSEMANN! KILL THEM!" Merasmus' head popped back into cover, as the ground began to vibrate.

"Argh! Bloody piker!" Sniper exclaimed, pulling out his sniper rifle from his back and chambering a round into the gun. "Get back, the HHH is here!"

Team RWBY+S asked at once, "What's the HHH?"

Medic looked at them dreadfully. "Someone you don't want to meet." At the same time, obnoxiously loud Halloween music began playing out of nowhere. "Gah! Pyro!" Medic immediately ran behind Pyro, who was the only person(?) in the group to not appear scared of the monstrosity forming in front of them.

The fountain crumbled into pieces, revealing a circular plate embedded into the ground with a green glowing light in the middle. A skeletal hand arose from the green point, before another hand joined it. Soon, the two hands pulled the rest of its body along, a headless body with tattered clothes and skeletal figure. No flesh or any form was visible on the body.

"What is that?!" All the girls screamed collectively, except for Summer, who was already aiming a gun she borrowed from Sniper, a small pistol, at the once-alive body.

"That, is ze Horseless Headless Horsemann."

"MMMPH!" Pyro 'said', then began to spew hot napalm over the monstrosity's body. The age-old skeletal bones defied logic as they shrugged off the napalm like plain old water, and the HHH swung its mighty axe.

Pyro reacted in time and dove right just as the huge axe struck the ground, creating a large crater. Medic was not so lucky, the axe having severed the doctor's left hand. Acting quickly, the German pulled out the CC and shot himself with it. The stump grew into a hand instantly, and he picked up the Medigun and ran towards the others.

"Quick! Ruby, fire!" Ruby deployed Crescent Rose and began unloading rounds at the approaching monster, as with her teammates.

Weiss saw that the HHH was approaching fast towards them, and casted an ice glyph beneath the HHH's feet. It looked down and saw that its legs were encased in blocks of ice, and roared in anger. The monster urged more power in its legs, and the ice blocks shattered from the pure power of the (Un)dead man.

"Back up!" Ruby shouted to her team, as Summer continued shooting bullets at the monster. The 9mm rounds did nothing to deter the HHH's advance. Soldier did a fly-by as he discharged four rockets at the HHH while rocket jumping across the monster's head.

"Screamin' eagles!" Soldier aimed his rocket launcher at the ground, jumped and squeezed the trigger. "AAAAAA-Oof!" The HHH saw his attempt to do another bombardment and slapped the Soldier out of the air with its Headtaker, the axe. Soldier got propelled straight through the air and crashed into the keep's walls. "AH, MY SPINE!" Could be faintly heard by the combatants below.

Ruby pointed Crescent Rose to the ground below her and recoil-jumped up the air. Weiss casted a glyph below her and Blake, then changed the glyphs gravity backwards, pushing them out of a near-miss from the humongous axe. Yang blast jumped and landed a punch on the HHH's face, which came off with a pop. The glowing pumpkin landed on the ground as the rest of its body stumbled around.

"HAH! Eat that!" Her celebration was short-lived however, as the HHH's body simply grabbed the pumpkin and plopped it back onto where it rightfully belongs. "Oh Dust…" Yang stared but was brought back to her senses when Ruby shouted after her.

"Wow! Missed me!" Yang ducked down in time for an overhead swing from the Halloween-boss and jumped away from an attempt to stomp her.

"Better hold on to yer' head mate, literally." On top of the van, Sniper squeezed the trigger of his rifle and the gunpowder exploded, sending a round downrange. The bullet struck the HHH right in the shoulder joint, dislocating it. The rest of its left arm lost connection to the body and fell right off.

Taking advantage of the slight confusion exhibited by the lost of its left arm, the Medic flanked the HHH. With his bonesaw in hand, he shouted. "I'm going to saw through your bones!" He drove the saw forward, and the sharp serrated blade cut through the HHH's shin. He twisted it, and the shin immediately got twisted alongside. The HHH lost its balance and fell down to the ground with the rattling of bones.

"Steady…" Sniper whispered, before yelling. "Hey girls! Help me keep him down!"

Ruby snapped into a childish salute. "Roger!" She shouted cheerfully, before turning to Weiss and explaining something. Weiss simply nodded and casted several glyphs, and propelling ice Dust to lock the limbs of the HHH in place.

"Nice work!" Sniper jumped off from his van, and pulled out another rifle. He opened a small pouch on his belt and took a bullet with the words 'MACHINA' engraved on it. He loaded it, aimed the dot onto the HHH's head, and fired.

The Machina round exploded, sending a small tungsten round through the air and into the HHH's head. The slug continued on its trajectory, passing through the spine and finally exiting the body through the monster's lower spine and into the ground. A light red trail was left behind as the slug cooled down rapidly inside the soil.

"Bloody piker." Sniper said, spitting on the finally dead HHH. "Pyro, blast it." The Pyro nodded and went over to the prone monster. The asbestos-clad person/thing grabbed its flamethrower from its back and aimed it point blank at the pumpkin head. The head was incinerated after ten full seconds of napalm blasting onto its surface.

"Mmmph mmph mmmphm." The Pyro decided to play it safe and use its fire axe to chop the neck bone off.

Suddenly, a blast sound was heard and the Soldier came landing with flaming feet and rocket launcher in hand. "What did I miss?" Medic facepalmed, while Sniper loaded in a round into the Machina and his trigger finger violently twitching.

"Come on, we've been delayed." He said, chucking the Machina into the van and walking up the path. Sounds of self-monolouging was soon heard by all.

"YES, THEY'RE DEAD! YES! MY GUARD SERVED ME WELL, OH I-"

"MERASMUS! OPEN THIS DOOR SO I CAN KICK YOUR MAGICAL ASS!" Soldier continued kicking the door with extreme force. Everyone backpedaled a step as the stone walls holding the door began to visibly crack.

"WHAT! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE! THEY SHOULD BE DEAD!"

"We aren't dead ya bloody wizard! Now open the damned door!" Sniper shouted. "FINE, FINE, FINE, STOP YELLLING! I SHOULD KILL THEM ONCE THEY GET INSIDE. WAIT I SHOULD STOP THINKING OUT LOUD."

Weiss pinched her brows in frustration. "Ugh, how can a 'wizard' be so dumb?" The RED mercenaries collectively shrugged. "He's been that'a way since we first met 'em. He may be dumb, but he's a dick…" His voice slowly lowered as Summer's glare bore into him. "He's a prick, so try not to kill him out of annoyance."

 _Click_

 _Click_

 _Click_

 _Click_

 _Click_

 _Click_

 _Cli-_ "DUST DAMMIT YOU WIZARD HOW MANY LOCKS DO YOU NEED?!" Everybody stared at Weiss, who looked away sheepishly. "I-I mean, nobody needs so many locks!" Weiss could even feel Merasmus' stare _through the door_.

 _Click_

"WELCOME! TO HELL'S GATE! AKA My house."

Soldier immediately grabbed Merasmus by the neck and began shaking him. "ME-RAS-MUS-I-NEED-YOU-TO-DO-SOME-THING. He said in between very violent shakes.

"Gah! Just-lemme go!" Soldier did so, and set the wizard down. Merasmus panted for air before finally recomposing himself. "Alright, what do you want?"

"She." Soldier began, pulling Summer to Merasmus' face. "Needs to be cured. At least that's what the nurse told me. MEDIC!"

"I am right beside you schweinehunde! Yes, she had been contracted vif a... An infection."

"Okay, but what does this have to do with me, the Overlord of Hell?" Blake leaned into Sniper. "Does he mean that?" Sniper chuckled before giving a response. "Nah, he's just too full a' himself."

"Vell, ve belive zat zis is caused by 'dark magic' as you so call. So! Ve have a deal, 'kamarad'?"

Merasmus thought for a while. "Eh-hehe…" He laughed nervously. "Well, I can't just do this for free! I need adequate payment! Money!"

Ruby walked forward and looked up to the wizard three heads taller than her. "Please! My mother needs to be cured! I don't want her to d-die! Please!" Ruby gave the man the puppy eyes.

"HAHAHAHAHA-Er, no. Payment." Ruby visibly sulked, and began to tear up. "… Still no. Payment."

"Argh, what do you not understand?! Someone is going to die here, and it's my mother! So you better give her the treatment, or I'll end you!" Secretly, Summer was nodding in agreement with Yang's actions, as Yang's hair grew fiery and her eyes turned crimson red.

"GAH! Alright! Aright! I'll give her treatment! What has the world come to, when even teenagers aren't scared of your neighborhood wizard…"

"A world where you live in, wanka!"

Pyro looked around the keep, and saw something it liked.

"Alright, danke, 'kamarad'. Le- Pyro! Put down zat torch!" Pyro sulked and reluctantly put the torch away, and walked back to the group.

"Psst, Weiss?" Sniper had a small smile on his face.

"Huh? What, Sniper?" Sniper beckoned her to follow him to a corner in the room. "Do you have some explosive Dust?" The heiress nodded, and the smile on Sniper's face grew. "Could ya give some to me? I wanna play a 'prank' on Merasmus."

"Okay… Though what are you going to do?" Sniper gave an evil chuckle. "You'll see…"

 **Ten Minutes Later**

"Alright, it should be done now. Drink this." Merasmus handed a vial of creepy green liquid, much to the disgust of the woman. "Do I really have to?"

"For your information! Merasmus is helping you not die! Your infection is growing. And my desire to kill Soldier…" Merasmus' last part did not go unnoticed by the White Reaper. "Sure, I'll tell Soldier that." With a wince and self-reassurance, Summer held the vial to her mouth and gulped in down in one sitting. "Ah! What is this Dust damned shit?!"

"Nothing you need to know. Now get out of my keep!"

"Oh! Hey wizard-head! I'll give ya some a' this. Will really help you in your magical bullshit." Sniper chucked a small vial at the man, who caught it rather clumsily. "What… Is this? I can feel the power! AHAHA!"

"That, is a substance I got from a friend. Now g'day." As the group went to the door, tires screeching is heard and a loud voice. "MERASMUS! WHERE'S OUR MONEY!? YOU STILL OWE US!" The voice was loud, gruff and booming.

"Uh, who's that?" Soldier asked the wizard.

"O-oh, that's just my… Uh… Loaners!"

"You owe zem how much?" Medic asked.

"Twelve million dollars."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Sniper spoke up. "C'mon guys and gals, we're going back home." Sniper kicked the door open, and was greeted to a sight of a minigun pointed at his face. "Oh, who're you?" The strongest looking man said.

"It's me who's supposed to be asking ya' that."

"We're TFC, but you don't need to know that. We can't let any witnesses see this. Boys, kill them."

Sniper only had so much time before he yelled out to the others to run, before a bullet grazed his face. He rolled behind the man and began to fire his SMG.

"Kill them! Leave no witnesses!"

"Freezerburn!" At Ruby's command, Weiss and Yang repeated the move they practiced, and successfully created a smoke barrier to bar their perpetuators' sight.

"Get in!" Sniper jumped into the driver's seat, as with Soldier and the others. Medic was the last to get one, and got a bullet embedded into his shoulder. "Ugh! Los los!" Sniper pushed the button, and slammed his feet on the gas.

Yang had a bad hair day.

 **1 Hour Later Nonstop on Overdrive Van Mode**

"WHEN WILL THIS STOP?!" Summer screamed out in anguish, with her hand fully grown back now, the infection cured.

"AAAAAAAAAAAND STOP!" Sniper pressed the button again, and the van slowly decelerated. "Woo! That was fun. Back at base." He disembarked the van and carried along his rifle. "Uh, you guys wanna get out?" He made his way over to the passenger compartment and opened the door, only to see the gang sprawled over the floor. "C'mon, it's already eleven at night! Get inside and we'll have a bed for ya'll."

Pyro was the first to recover, followed by Summer, but stayed back until Ruby and Yang could walk out. Weiss and Blake were the last, beaten by Medic.

"Engie! We're back!" Sniper lifted the metal shutter, and saw the Engineer was busy with his sentry. "Oh, so fast? How's your arm?"

Summer flexed her newly grown back arm, courtesy of Medic. "I don't feel any different from before I had it... you know. Working pretty good." She said, giving her arm a test punch.

"Good to hear. Ya'll can go over to that room over there, got some beds for ya." The exhausted Team RWBY+S nodded and walked into the room Engineer was pointing, and Blake shut the door.

"So what happened out there? Anythin' interesting?" The Texan inquired, one hand holding his wrench while the other wiped sweat off his brow.

Medic walked over to a chair and sat down on it. "Ja, met some crazy people who wanted to kill us. Apparently ze wizard owed zem money, a lot."

Engineer set his wrench down and grabbed a nearby beer bottle. "Sounds like him. Who are those men anyways? D'ya get a name?" He chugged the drink down.

Sniper nodded. "Yea, calls themselves 'TFC' or somethin'. Looked like military as well, blue uniforms, serious business. T-Hey what's with that look on ya face?"

Engineer stopped drinking and faced his teammate. "T-F-C? Are you sure you heard that right?" Sniper nodded quizzically. "My god. Are there nine of them there?" Another nod.

"Holy shit." Engineer held a hand to his head as he pulled a chair over and sat down. "What?" Engineer was both ecstatic, and worried. "Jesus Christ. You know what this means?"

"Yeah?"

"My dad's alive."

 **A/N: And cliffhanger. Yeah I know I'm a horrible person. This 'Earth' arc exists to set up the plot for the entry of RWBY Volume 3 into this story and for the next arc.**

 **Reviews!**

 **Mr Wilson: Thanks matey!**

 **Only got one review this chapter. Though I'll have to ask you all a favor. Point out my mistakes in this story, be as** ** _blunt_** **as you want, but I really feel that I messed up, but nobody's saying anything about it. So don't be reluctant to give feedback, positive or negative, I will take your advice and improve upon myself.**

 **As always, I sincerely thank you for taking your time to read my story, and-Oh wait Beta you got something to say?**

 **B/N: Yes... That's all I wanted to say. :)**

 **That's all? Okay then. Don't hurt yourself on the way out.**

 **Anyways, copy and paste the thank you line above and I'll see you next time. Bye bye!**


	12. Classic & Apologies

"They're so peaceful…"

"Agreed, but do you not remember what we're here for?"

"Heck yeah, let's get going."

 **BANG**

 **Five Minutes Later**

"Engie, please for the love of Oum, do _not_ wake us up with a shotgun." Said man chuckled and loaded a shell into the Backwards Boomstick-paint job shotgun. "Couldn't help it. 'Sides, we're so used to being woken up by gunshots that gunshots are the only thing that could wake us up."

"Alright, what ya girls wanna eat?"

Ruby raised her hand. "No Ruby, there's no cookies." She put her hand down with a small raincloud over her head. "C'mon Rubes, I'll buy you cookies when we get back to Beacon!" Yang tried to cheer her up.

"No suggestions?" Engineer stood there waiting for an answer, while sounds of someone stirring awake was heard.

Sniper yawned, and stood up from his chair in the sniper's nest. He grabbed his rifle and weaponry before walking downstairs. He walked into the 'mess hall' as Soldier oh so likes to call the dining room, and caught a glimpse of the Engineer. Sniper just nodded and patted the Texan's shoulder before disappearing into an adjacent room.

"Really? No preferences?" They all shook their heads. "Well then, bacon and eggs it is." Engineer walked to a few cupboards and took out the ingredients.

"Oh! How's your arm mom?" Ruby asked, to which the older Rose replied, "As good as new, I can even say it looks prettier without the scars and whatnot!" Ruby and Yang beamed at the news.

"Good morning Mister Spy." The Frenchman walked into the room holding a newspaper and what appears to be a shot of wine. "Bonjour, mademoiselle."

Nobody at the table understood what the man just said. Weiss quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"It means 'Good morning, miss.' in French, the language of my country."

"How many countries are there?" Summer accepted Engineer's glass of water and took a sip from it.

"Never bothered to check, too many to count. Besides, many of those countries do not hold significant importance. At least, no significant importance to us." Spy set his shot down and sat on a chair opposite of the Remnant natives.

"So… When are we going back? Mom's already cured, and we got nothing else to do here! Right?"

"Don't forget, Ruby. We still need to get the… petrol? As well as gunpowder for Ozpin." Weiss pointed out as the sizzling sound of bacon filled the room.

"Ya'll can get 'em from Heavy. Just ask 'im and he'll be happy to get the things ya need." Engie said while cracking a few eggs.

 **A Few Minutes Later**

"Okay. First of all, this is too greasy. Secondly, this has too much salt."

"C'mon Weiss, ya' gotta admit, it's delicious! Don't 'cha think, Ruby?" Yang looked at her sister, who just gave her a thumbs up. "See! Don't worry, even if you put on a few pounds, you're still Weiss!" She was answered with a 'hey!' from the ice queen.

"We should get the things we need." Blake said, to which her team nodded in agreement. "Come on team! Let's go!" The cheerful soul of RWBY stood up and walked towards the exit. Her left foot was just about to step out of the room when Spy's voice stopped her. "Other way."

"I-I knew that!" She turned around and walked out the other door. Yang stifled a giggle and dragged Blake along. Weiss followed soon after.

"Wow…" Ruby stopped and took a good look at the large hole in the middle of the open-air building.

"That's a deep hole…"

"Wonder what they have down there?"

"Hmph. They don't even have safety railings, do they not care for safety?!"  
"Well Weiss, they are mercenaries… And they can't die as well."

The team made their way over to the locker room, as Spy had told them. "Hello? Mister Heavy?" The Russian looked up from the gun in his hands. "Ah! What can Heavy do for you?"

"Well, Headmaster Ozpin requested us to bring back some samples of petroleum, whatever that is, and some gunpowder back to Beacon. So I was wondering, could you help us get those items?"

"Hah! Of course! You wait here, Little-Snow girl." Weiss looked slightly confused at the nickname the bear used for her.

Yang snickered loudly. "Little-Snow girl, hah!" Her adoptive mother saw this and gave the girl a playful whack on the head. "Ow! Sorry!" With that, Heavy chuckled in his Russian accented voice and walked over to a steel shutter with the words 'Garage' crudely painted on it. He bent down and used a single finger to lift the metal plating before walking inside.

The girls in the room flinched when the steel shutter came crashing down with a loud 'clang', along with the distant voice of Engineer. "Goddammit Heavy! That shutter's expensive!"

Ruby decided to sit on one of the benches in the room and took in her surroundings. Her eyes scanned over a belt of ammunition, an old-looking rifle with no visible magazine, yellow jars of _something,_ a few bullets lying here and there, a pink purse(What?) until her eyes finally set on a display rack. The moment her eyes connected with the glorious weaponry displayed inside the glass display, her silver pupils began dilating, and her body slowly _vibrating_.

"Uh… Rubes? What's wrong?" Summer looked at her daughter with a questioning eye, as the younger rose slowly stood up and made her way to the display case. "Rubes. Is something wrong?" Summer Rose started walking quickly to her daughter's side. "What's wrooo…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes landed on the contents of the display case.

"Um, mom? Rubes?" It was now Yang's turn to look at her family with confused glances, as she could see a few drips of drool coming from Ruby's mouth. She decided to check out what they were looking at.

"Alright, back off now, you're gonna flood the place with drool later on." Yang grabbed both of the roses by the cloak and pulled back, snapping the Roses out of it.

"What's a few miniguns to look at? They're just weapons."

She did not know what hell she unleashed upon herself when those words escaped her lips.

 **With Engineer**

The Texan had his hardhat on the table as he ate his breakfast silently. The only sounds in the room was the dull humming of electricity and the distant ranting of two certain roses.

He let out a long sigh and continued eating his bacon and eggs. He perked his head up when he saw the door to his right open. "How's it going?"

The Australian shrugged and slung his rifle over his back. "No sign of movement, but it looks bloody hot out there."

Engineer let out an empty chuckle. "'Course it is."

"So what are ya gonna do 'bout your dad?" Sniper took his hat off and sat on the chair opposite the Engineer. The American shook his head. "I'dunno, still haven't thought much 'bout it."

Sniper simply nodded and went over to the coffee machine to grab some coffee. He came back with two mugs of the hot beverage.

"Thanks."

"Wonder how the girls are doing."

"I'll be off now, back to the snipin' nest."

 **Meanwhile**

"Learned your lesson?" Both Roses asked the blonde.

"Yes, yes I did." Yang's face was emotionless and bags were visible beneath her eyes.

"Professor Heavy! Thank you!" Weiss called out when the Russian entered the room with a fuel can and a bag of something. "What happened?"

Both Roses hastily replied. "Oh! Nothing!" Heavy skeptically glanced between them and the dead-looking brawler. "… Anyways, Heavy brought you petroleum, and gunpowder. Be careful, they can explode easily."

"Alright! Thank you!" Ruby skipped over to the man and grabbed the fuel can, but instantly fell down due to the weight of the can. "AH!" Yang helped Ruby lift the can, but discovered that even herself, the strongest in terms of strength in the group, had difficulty lifting it.

"Be careful, they can catch fire." Heavy then handed the sack of gunpowder to Summer, who hefted it relatively easily. "Thank you Heavy!"

"Pozhalustya. That means welcome in Russian language." Heavy stated in his thick Russian accent. Suddenly, sounds of sirens wailing and klaxon's blaring filled the air. "What the-"

 **5 Minutes Ago – Sniper's Nest**

"Blergh! What kinda coffee is this? Piss?" Sniper set the mug down on the table and continued surveying the area through the sniper scope.

"… Urgh, bloody BLU's at their base again…" He shifted his body around to get a better view. "Let's see… One fatass, one doctor, one… Scout and one Soldier." He continued observing intently. "Looks like they're settin' up for an attack. Better warn the guys."

Distant gunfire reached his ears.

"What the…?" Sniper looked through his scope again. "Bloody 'ell… They're dead…" Sniper hastily stood up from his seat and walked over to the landline placed on the table nearby. He dialed a number in and waited for a response.

"What's goin' on?" Engineer's voice came through the speakers. Sniper spoke in a rather confused tone. "Did ya' send any of the guys over to BLU base to kill 'em?" A 'no' was his answer.

"Well I just saw the BLU's over at their base get massacred. No, I can't see who killed 'em… Alright, will alert ya when I see 'em."

 **With Engineer**

The Texan put the phone back into the wall socket and let out an exasperated sigh. "Who's killin' the BLU's?" He muttered to himself. "Whelp. Time to activate the defenses."

 **With Sniper**

Whistling could be heard as the jar was slowly being filled up by yellow liquid. "Ah~ Much better."

"Hmm? Looks like Engie got those sentries up n' runnin." Sniper was referring to the five or so gatling guns that popped out of walls, ceilings and floors outside of their base.

"Alright, where are ya?" He continued scanning, until he caught a glint of something metallic. He refocused the scope crosshair on the light, and squinted to make out the shape.

"Oh." Was all he could manage before a hail of bullets struck the nest. "Bloody hell!" He crouched down and made his way over to the telephone. "Engineer! We're being attacked! What the hell are your sentries doing?!"

"W-What?! They're functional just a minute ago!Shit, just don't get killed!" He slammed the landline down and ran to the control room. "Soldier! Sound the alarm! We're being attacked!"

The man was busy watching a war movie and did not hear the Texan's screams, until the man ran over and whacked him on the head did he respond. "What! What happened!?"

"Ah for fu- Just activate the alarm!" Soldier did so and the klaxons started blaring full blast.

 **Present**

"Time for baby killing time!" Heavy hefted his minigun out from the display case, rushing out of the locker room and grabbing a bandolier on the way out.

"C'mon team! L-Let's do this!" Ruby's voice cracked slightly. Yang and Summer dropped what they were carrying and pulled out their weapons. The girls nodded to each other and ran out the room.

"Team RWBY! Get to safety, inside that room!" The Engineer pointed to the spawn room, which was guarded by a level three sentry gun.

"Bu-"

"No buts, I'm not going to let a bunch a' kids die on my watch!"

"Go, I'll help them out." Summer said to her daughters, who reluctantly nodded and beckoned their team to the spawn room. Summer smiled at their silhouettes, but her face became a frown when she turned to the Texan.

"Are you sure they'll be safe inside?" The Engineer looked a bit scared of the lady's face at first, but quickly recomposed himself.

"You have my word." Summer's face softened when the words of reassurance reached her ears. "Alright, no more babbling. We got ourselves a fight to catch!" The man pulled his shotgun out and ran to the entrance of the base, where the enemies are fighting the rest of RED Team.

"Yo." He said in a calm manner when he ducked behind a sandbag along with the Demoman. "Aye lad!" Demoman blind-fired a grenade from behind cover and a scream along with an explosion signified a kill. "So who we're up against?" The Engineer asked.

"Hm? Ah we 'dunno. I remember Sniper tellin' me that they're the laddies they met yesterday at the wizard's house." The conversation between the two was calm and collected, compared to the raging firefight taking place literally three feet around them.

"Shit. Sniper! How many are there?" He screamed to the Australian who was also taking cover behind some sandbags. "'Round fifty of 'em!"

"See any engineer sort a' dudes?"

"Nah! Only the usual run a' the mill grunts!"

"Alright! Everybody! Open fire!"

 **A/N: First off, before you kill me for not posting a chapter last week and also having a VERY FUCKING short chapter out today, I have to say somethings.**

 ***Kneels down.***

 ***Slams head on ground.***

 **I APOLOGIZE**

 **Alright now you can pull the trigger.**

 **Seriously though, the reason I did not update last week was because, I hit an obstacle.**

 **I felt like I wrote myself into a corner and could not find a way to advance my storyline. I could not find inspiration as well. This chapter, 2K words, are written over the span of a week. I just could not and did not have the heart to churn out the same amount of words as the recent chapters.**

 **So, I apologize once again, and I hope you could give me any pointers for my writing. Thank you.**

 **B/N: It's okay. You'll get yo shit back soon enough. I believe in you m8**


	13. TFC

"Bonk! Boom, you're dead!" Scout lifted his baseball bat off the man's face and meat-shotted a TFC Scout with his signature scattergun. "Too slow!"

"Nice job!" Engineer yelled from behind his sentry, as the contraption unloaded round upon round at the attacking TFC mercenaries.

Soldier rocket-jumped into the air and fired a rocket at a cluster of enemies. "SCREAMIN' EAGLES!" The poor souls had no time to scream as the fiery explosion consumed them in a ball of fire. One TFC Sniper made the mistake of stopping in the middle of the battlefield to look up and was greeted by the foot of the Soldier landing right on his face. Ignoring the loud cracking sound that resonated from the man's neck, the Soldier took his shotgun out and began firing at approaching enemies, all the while laughing maniacally.

"AHAHAHA! YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR AMRERICA!"

Standing on top of the Engineer's dispenser, was the Heavy. His minigun was spun up and the trigger held down, mowing down the TFC mercs and tearing flesh apart. His deranged laugh was muffled by the sound of bullets firing and the screams of the dying. His minigun was constantly supplied with ammunition from the dispenser via a red beam.

The American stopped in front of the German and screamed in his gruff voice. "Nurse! Charge me!"

"Nein!" Medic aimed a crossbow bolt at the Soldier and fired. "Raus raus!" Soldier gave the doctor a thumbs up for the heals and chuckled, before turning back to the TFC mercenaries in front of him.

"Hehe, which one of ya' pussies are gonna be first?"

One of the TFC mercenaries suddenly had the smell of urine coming off of him.

"Pyro! Where's Py-" Engineer turned around and immediately recoiled back in disgust. "Gah! Pyro… That's… That's just wrong. Just kill the damn guy and get back to them." The person Pyro was referring to was being slowly cooked over a campfire while being strapped to a pole over the sizzling flame.

"Hmph…" An axe to the back of the man's neck and the Pyro went back to the frontlines.  
The Texan turned his attention to the woman on the battlefield. "Summer! How's it holding there?"

"Oh Engie! Pretty good! Still though, Earthlings die so easily!"

"That's 'cause we don't have Aura!" Summer nodded and drew an arrow from her quiver and notched it onto the bowstring. She aligned the sights with her target and let loose of the arrow. The arrow tip glowed red as the Fire Dust started to activate, until the arrow hit home; A TFC merc's head.

The fire Dust combusted and blew the body to pieces. Wincing a bit from the gruesome death, Summer notched another arrow and aimed down the sights.

"DIE YOU BITCH!" Summer reacted on instinct and ducked down, letting the mercenary's tactical knife swing go wide. "AGH!" The man brought his knife down, but was met with resistance in the form of Summer's bow blocking it.

"Try harder!" Summer pressed a button on the side of her bow and two serrated blades erupted from the ends of the bow. Tilting the bow at an angle, the mercenary's knife went sliding down and hitting the ground. Taking the opportunity of the man's confusion, Summer jumped up and kicked his face, before slashing at him with her weapon.

Two large gashes appeared on the man's torso, but he did not give up. "Die!" His attempt to stab the woman did not go well as Summer blocked his hand and twisted it until a cracking sound was heard. She did not give him the chance to fight back as she slashed her weapon at his torso with speed. The bleeding form of the mercenary on the ground was the result of her work.

Before long, the fifty or so strong force that attacked was reduced to nothing more than a pile of bodies. "Good job out there boys." Engineer wiped some sweat off his forehead and smiled at his comrades.

"Y'know, it's been quite a long time since we fought together like that. Since all the jazz with Remnant and such."

"Da. Is good we fight together." The Heavy commented.

"Hell yeah, though I'm the one that's doing all the real work out there. Saw how fast I was? I'm a freakin' blur!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever makes ya sleep at night." The others laughed at Sniper's remark at the expense of the Bostonian.

Engineer's face turned serious for a moment and leaned forward. "Still though, anyone notice something 'bout those merc's?"

"What?" Everyone voiced out simultaneously.

"What's with their faces? I mean, look at this." The Texan bent over and picked up a dead TFC mercenary. "Notice the balaclava?" The man then proceeded to pull the balaclava off, revealing a person with graying hair along with a mustache.

"Uh… So? They wanna cover their faces?" Scout asked with a shrug.

"That's not all. Now look at the other mercs." Engineer ungloriously dropped the body and picked up another one. "They both wear the same kit, right?" Everyone nodded.

"Now look at this." He tore the balaclava off, and the same face appeared. "Look! They're identical! Look at the one's with the same kits and equipment, they are _clones_!"

"Huh… Ya may be right hardhat!" Scout said loudly while swinging around his baseball bat.

"Think ah heard some a' them talking in the same voices s'well." The Scottish drunkard said.

Heavy picked up a legless body and tossed it aside. "Clones? Hah! No wonder little babies can't fight well." He said with a chuckle.

"So, have we figured out who this TFC is?" Spy asked the Texan with a cigarette in between his lips. "For all we know, they could be Mann Co.'s doing."

"Nah, I know who they are. My dad's a member of 'em."

Demoman raised an eyebrow. "Engie? Yer dad?"

"Yup. Been in there s'long as I can remember." The Engineer started walking to the spawn room. "They're a group of mercenaries. Who hired them, I don't know. Though I do recall my dad tellin' me some stories 'bout nine of 'em fighting against another mercenary force for a patch a' land."

"Like us!"

"Yes Scout, like us exactly. So, now we need to find out who hired them, and why they were sent to attack us. Hell, it could be Administrator doing this as a little test of our mettle."

"Alright boys, let's get back to base."

"Hey Engie, what are we gonna do with those bodies?" Summer jabbed her thumb at the pile of bodies lying in the corner.

"Medic'll take care of 'em."

"What's he gonna do with them?"

A shudder went down his spine. "You don't wanna know." Meanwhile, mad cackling could be heard from the pile of bodies behind the group from a certain mad scientist.

"Alright, you lot wanna get back to Beacon? If so, I can set up a teleporter that leads to our dorm room."

Team RWBY talked among themselves a bit before facing the Texan. "Well uh, we don't want to go back there yet."

"Why's that?"

"Well… Weiss wanted to take a look at the scenery, Blake wanted to look at Earth's bookstuff, and Yang-" The blonde interrupted the crimsonette's sentence. "Wants to try out some Earth drinks!"

"Oh… Uh, I can satisfy Yang's desire for drinks a whi-" A loud 'No!' interrupted him. Looking at the source the voice, Summer pushed Yang away from Engineer.

"No, no no no! You, young lady are NOT drinking liquor today!" The mother of the two yelled with her hands on her hips in a motherly pose.

"Well I do have some that are-MMPH!" Engineer's words became muffled as a hand covered his mouth.

"Nope, no drinks for you, young lady."

Yang deflated. "Aw! C'mon! Just one drink!"

"Alrighty then. I'm gonna go make a report to Miss Pauling about the attack.

Engineer twisted the door handle open and walked inside the control room. He picked up the telephone and punched in a string of numbers, then held the device to his ear.

" _Hello, Miss Pauling here- Oh Engie! What's wrong?"_

"'Round ten minutes ago, Upward was attacked."

" _By who? BLU?"_

"Nah, Sniper said that the BLU's were dead before our base was invaded. They were a bunch a' mercenaries, like us. Though from what their uniforms – Yes, actual military fatigue style uniforms – They're called TFC."

" _You got any idea what they stand for?"_

"Nope. Though my dad used to work there, probably still does. But here's the thing. They're clones. They have nine classes, kinda like us, but for everyone one o' them with the same class, they have the same body."

"… _Alright, I'll see what I can find out about them."_ The call hung up, and the only sound was the beeping of the line.

"Guess that'll do."

"Please remain silent, everyone." Spy said in his gentlemanly tone as he walked to the ringing telephone. "Bonjour, Spy speaking."

" _Spy, good. I've got some intel on the group called TFC."_ Miss Pauling's voice reached Spy's ears.

"Sniper."

"Yeah Engi?"

"You're driving a _caravan_."

"That's right mate."

"Which has _another caravan_ attached to it."

"Spot on."

"I- Y'know what just… Just keep driving."

Sniper was behind the wheel of the caravan he oh-so-loved, which has a smaller caravan linked together via a crudely made connector. Team RWBY and Summer were in the driving caravan, while the seven other mercs are in the second caravan.

Engineer leaned backwards to the window separating the driving compartment and the passenger compartment. "Ya'll 'right back there?" He shouted back to the girls.

"Doing alright here!" Summer's voice responded the Texan.

"Good! This'll be a long trip, eight hours tops!" He yelled, before turning his attention to the scenery rapidly passing by the windscreen.

"… Mann Co. Headquarters, eh? Never been there before. You?"

"Nah. The only one that's been there before is Spy. I dunno what's he doing there though."

"Huh. Well ya better rest up. Once it hits 12 o'clock I'll wake ya and take over the wheel."

"Got it."

 **Mann Co. Headquarters**

"That's a big building." The redhead commented.

"More importantly, why is it in the middle of a desert?!" Weiss yelled out frustratingly as she attempted to cool down by fanning herself. "Is this Saxton Hale you speak of mentally deranged?"

"You could say that, he has a bit of a mental problem. Or as we like to call it, 'Over Australianizing'." The Frenchman said while straightening his necktie. "Come, he's probably bored out of his mind waiting for us."

The group followed closely behind the assassin as they passed by hallways after hallways decorated with lavish trophies, vases, heck, even some expensive weaponry were used.

"C'mon Ruby! We got to go!" Yang dragged her sister by the collar as she hopelessly flailed her arms around while muttering something about weapons and making love.

The Australian sniper casted a glance at the red reaper and the blonde, then turned to the two Huntresses-in-training's mother. "Damn, that girl's gonna be hard to control. You aren't gonna help 'em?"

"Nope, let my daughter handle her sister." She said, before looking at her daughters antics and smiling. "I mean, it's kinda satisfying to see them like this, getting along with each other."

The Spy suddenly held up a hand as he turned to the group. "Alright dames and messieurs, quiet down now, we are approaching Mister Hale's office." He straightened his tie once again and rapped on the wooden door thrice.

A moment passed without anyone responding. "Ahem." Spy knocked once more. After hearing yet no response, he knocked harder on the door.

"Come in!" A manly voice came from the other side of the door. The French gentleman wrapped his hand around the handle and twisted, pushing the door in.

Weiss instinctively straightened herself up in the face of a businessman, as Blake's mind began fantasizing as she stared at the glorious abs of our favorite Australian. A thin line of drool began dripping from her mouth.

The man sat on his chair as he adjusted his hat. "RED Team! I didn't know you were bringing some guests over!"

"Yes Mister Hale, these are… Natives of the world of Remnant." Spy gestured to the Remnant girls as he started walking forward. "What did you invite us here for?"

"Hah! You French bastard, always straight to the point, I like it!" He yelled as the room was filled with manliness his voice carries. His eyes trailed over to the spot the Spy was standing on, and the Australian pressed a button on his seat's armrest.

"Yes, so wha- Ooof!" A flying bear to the face was his statement's answer as the grizzly flew from an open hole in the side of the room. The bear slammed the Spy into the wall opposite the room and formed a crack.

"HAHAHA! The old bear catapult trick, always funny! You should've seen the look on your face when the animal flew out! Hah!" Completely ignorant of the assassin's flattening state, the businessman continued laughing at the man's misfortune.

"Alright, time for business. So, I invited you lousy lot 'ere, because I have a job for you!" He walked over to the twitching body of Spy under the 600 pound monstrosity and grabbed the man's gloved hand, and flung him to the merc's location all the while speaking nonchalantly.

"You lot are mercenaries, so ya'll can be hired. Now, I want you lot, to attack here." He pulled a map out of nowhere, just literally materializing the piece of paper from thin air and pointed a finger at a single dot on the map.

Engineer briefly casted a glance at the wheezing Frenchman on the ground in front of him before turning his attention to his would-be employer. "Where's that?"

"Good question! The Badlands." Saxton Hale pointed another finger at the gigantic bold letters on the top of the map which spell out 'BADLANDS' like it was screaming.

"No, I mean what's the place we're attacking?"

"Huh? Oh, just a company called TFC."

 **A/N: Cliffhanger. Darn. I still have some trouble writing, so shorter chapters will have to be the compromise until I can get my groove back.**

 **Reviews! I forgot to do them last time so here it is!**

 **Eldrazi Cat: Thanks!**

 **Cadaver1041: I answered your question in my PM.**

 **Up n Down: The Queen, is NOT dead. And I will** ** _try_** **to decrease that sort of writings. Thanks for the advice!**

 **B/N: Get it good get it back.**


	14. And BRAKE! (THIS AIN'T DEAD MATES!)

"… Did I hear that right? TFC? You want us, to attack their Headquarters?"

"That's right ya hardhatted Texan! What, you're gonna chicken out like a pussy?" The Australian taunted, grinning smugly at the group of people in front of his desk. "Besides, I'm payin' ya here! You don't want a hundred thousand dollars?"

"N-No, just that…"

Spy stepped in and finished the Engineer's sentence for him. "What my friend here asks is that why are we attacking the base. For all we know, we could just be fighting over a useless piece of gravel."

"Pfft, who'd you think I am? Some hundred-years old brother? No questions asked, just do the job." He adjusted his hat so that it sat perfectly on his head. "So, you lot in?"

"… Alright, we're going in. We expect payment by-" He looked at Engineer, who raised two fingers. "- Two days after we finish the mission, as well as half of the payment in advance. Is that acceptable?"

"Course it is! Here! Bidwell, my man! Bring this lot over here a suitcase!" Immediately, a man stepped out of nowhere and pulled out a suitcase from his ass. At least, that's where the group of mercenaries assumed he took it from. Setting the suitcase on the table gently, the butler opened the bullet-proof, explosion-proof, impact-proof and radiation-proof suitcase and showed the contents of it to the men.

"Damn! So Mister Hale, ya just got some suitcase full a' money just layin' 'round here?" The Scout leaned in and started admiring the glorious stack of money contained within the suitcase.

"Course! Best way to store money!" Saxton Hale boomed, his voice echoing off the walls.

"Did Earth invent banks?" Blake whispered into Summer's ears.

"Well that, or this guy is too stupid to use one."

"Point."

 **Back At Base**

"How long since they left again?" The blonde questioned out loud, receiving a '5 Hours' from Blake as her response.

"Ugh, why are they taking so long!?"

Ruby looked up from the weapons magazine she was reading. "Well they did say it will be quite a long drive, even with mister Sniper's van."

"Still though, just putting us in this base and telling us to sit and wait? I can't take it anymore! I need to punch something." Yang jumped off the bunk bed she was given and walked out of the room, leaving the RWB of RWBY and Summer alone.

"So…"

"Any ideas what to do?" Blake said, looking at the occupants of the room. "No? Guess I'll keep reading then." Blake sat up and grabbed a book from a bookshelf nearby.

"Then I'll take a nap now. Wake me when they come back!" Summer literally jumped onto her bed and almost fell asleep instantly, her snoring echoing slightly in the room.

"…"

No one talked for a while with only the sounds of Weiss filing her nails and Ruby and Blake flipping through pages of their respective books filling the quiet void.

Weiss stopped filing her nails and looked at the red head. "Hey, Ruby?" The girl did not answer, instead remaining glued to the weapons magazine she got her hands on with a thin line of drool flowing down from the corner of her mouth. "Ugh, Ruby!" Still no answer. Weiss sighed and walked over to the red head, and semi-shouted into the girl's ear.

"DOLT!"

"Ah! Uh-ah w-what?" The red head finally realized the chilly aura the ice queen was giving off, and laughed nervously while rubbing her neck. "Hehe, was a little lost there, sorry."

"It's fine, but I want to ask you something."

The team leader put her magazine down and gave space for Weiss to sit on her bed. "Hmm?"

"What do you think of Earth?"

Ruby's face scrunched up lightly in thought. "Well… It's nice… Quite hot… Lots of weird people, and lots of weapons…" Her eyes slowly trailed over to the magazine on the bedside table before snapping back to Weiss. "What about you?"

Weiss did not expect the question to be redirected towards her, and caught her by surprise a bit. "It's... An interesting place." Weiss said, choosing her words. "In some ways, Mann Co. resembles the Schnee Dust Company." She admitted with a huff.

"Huh? How?"

"Well, Mann Co sells weaponry. The SDC do as well. It's also the largest supplier of munitions in the world much like my grandfather's company. Mann Co also holds some modicum of power in the world government as well. At least, that's what I read about." Weiss pointed to the pile of books on her table beside her bunk bed.

"Huh… Say, are you looking forward to going back to Remnant?"

A thin nerve bulged in Weiss' forehead. "What? Of course I am! I can't stand this place! Dust everywhere, and I'm not talking about the Dust we use for weaponry, the dirt kind of dust! No air-conditioning even though we're in a desert, the air is horrible," Weiss stopped mid-rant and took a deep breath, before releasing it slowly. "And worst of all, no. quality coffee! Can you believe that!?" Ruby giggled at Weiss' ranting, and the conversation continued on for some time.

Blake suddenly stood up and put away the book she was reading. "I'm going to check up on Yang." She walked out of the room and looked around for the bimbo, but found no signs of her. "She's probably at the gym." She muttered to herself.

"Control room… Kitchen…Gym, there you go." Pushing the door open, Blake was greeted to the sight of the blonde brawler punching the hell out of a punching bag. Yang casted a glance towards her and winked, before resuming her assault on the bag.

"Careful, looks like it might burst." Blake referred to the visible dent in the bag.

"Heh, these bags are not so tough. Beacon's got waaay better equipment." The brawler commented.

"True that." Blake walked over to a bench on the sidelines and sat down on it before crossing her legs. "Besides, I don't think this world's training equipment are made with Aura-capable people in mind."

Yang laughed and threw another punch at the punching bag on the verge of bursting, continued with a right hook, then a left one. The contents of the bag finally came flowing out once the brawler delivered an Aura-infused punch, almost making Yang fall over from the sheer amount of sand that came gushing out.

"Ugh, that's the third one now. Hey Blakey! Help bring over another one!"

 **TFC Compound**

"You see any of 'em?"

"Yep. Got my sights on three guys."

"Think you can make the shot?"

"Engi, it ain't about whether I can make the shot, it's how long they have until a bullet is through their heads." Without another word, the Australian squeezed the trigger on his Hitman's Heatmaker. Without even waiting to confirm his kill, his arms moved in a fluid motion as he chambered another round into the rifle, then squeezing the trigger. This action was repeated one more time before all three of the guards on the distant watchtower dropped dead.

"Nice shot! Alright, Heavy, Medic, you should be clear." He released his grip on his radio and a voice cackled through.

" _Da. Come on now doctor!"_ The Texan looked through his binocular and saw the duo moving through a small door.

"Hey Engi, ya ain't worried 'bout your dad possible in there?"

"Nah, I extracted some information from one of the merc's dead brain. They aren't here."

"Huh."

"Demo, you got the charges ready?"

" _Sure thin' lad!"_

"Alright, do the honors." Before his sentence even ended, a bright flash erupted in the centre of the compound. The thunderous sound soon followed as the base was thrown into chaos. "Alright Sniper, time to move." He stood up from his prone position, grabbing his widowmaker lying nearby as he did so. "Alright everyone, time to kick-ass! Yeee-Haw!"

Nearby, a smiling American let out a mad cackle and turned towards his comrades. "These sorry excuses for men shall not stand against our strength! SCREAMING EAGLES!" His voice was drowned out by the sound of a rocket impacting his feet and propelling him over the five-meter high wall. The Pyro and Scout nodded at each other then charged into the walled compound through a hole Soldier had blasted through for them.

"Wh-oa! Nice try there pal!" Scout ducked under a swing from a tactical knife and kicked the offending mercenary in the guts. "Eat this!" Before the man had a chance to recover, the Scout battered his baseball bat into the man's face then finished him off with a swing that cracked the man's neck. The cocky Bostonian raised his scattergun at an approaching enemy with a minigun in hand. Smiling, the Scout sprinted over to the TFC Heavy clone and jumped over his head, shooting a shell into the back of the man as he landed. As the man turned around, the Scout then aimed his scattergun and fired at the man's head, leaving nothing but a bloody mess behind.

"F-Fire!" Scout turned around, just in time to witness a Scout aiming a nail gun at him shakily. The Scout smirked while running up to the person and batting the gun out of his way, before landing a neck-snapping hit on the head.

"I am the Scout here!" Scout taunted, bashing the TFC Scout's head in even more with his bat. "You'll only dream to get to my level!"

Pyro's enemies were a lot less fortunate. The first one did not even have time to raise his nailgun before an axehead gorged his neck out. The second one, a TFC Soldier, got his rocket reflected back at him and turned into a gibbed mess. The third enemy became a pile of charred bone after napalm melted his flesh off. The fourth put up a fight with the Pyro as he blocked an overhead slice with his wrench, and delivering a few shots from his railgun. The Pyro ignored the pain in its stomach and continued its assault, eventually taking the TFC Engineer's head off. But not before disemboweling the man. Because why not?

The Texan cracked a wicked smile as he plunged his spinning Gunslinger into a man's gut. The spinning hand continuously ground the man's insides into a paste and spraying blood absolutely everywhere.

"YEEE-HAW!" The Engineer retracted his Gunslinger and punched another mercenary with the robotic hand. The Medic's head jerked back as his nose began to bleed from the impact, giving the Engineer enough time to raise his pistol and empty a 9mm into the field medic's head. "That 'oughta do it!"

Meanwhile, Soldier was busy dishing out pure American patriotism in the form of rockets flying everywhere and dozens of TFC clones killed in every way imaginable, from having a snapped neck, a shotgun slug in the face, A combat engineer's own boot shoved down his throat and breaking his trachea, a chest cavity caved in with the shape of a boot.

"AMERICA!" Soldier began to dual wield both his rocket launcher and his shotgun and start patrionizing everyone in his general vicinity which did not don the clothes of RED Team. As his rampage began, obnoxious music began blaring from thin air as his attack increased in ferocity and brutality. Somehow.

One poor sod received his death in the grand form of an entrenching shovel splitting his brain in half, which was then used to hack off the TFC Medic clone's head.

"Hey Demo! Get more stickies here!" The Scotsman mock saluted the Engineer and pulled out his sticky launcher. He casually plopped a few explosives in the warehouses littered throughout the compound, and blew them up. This was repeated until he had no stickies left. But even then, he just shrugged and continued to launch pipes everywhere.

"Agh! Run! Run! Fuck this!" A TFC Scout threw his weapon on the ground and took off with several of his comrades in arms following him. Slowly, the resisting forces gradually lost morale, making the mercenaries' job of murdering them in inhumane ways that much easier.

As for the remaining mercenaries that did not make it out in time, the Pyro gave them all a good flesh melting dose of fire. All the while with a cheerful laugh.

The still clutching his Grenade Launcher Demoman looked around. "Alright, did we do our job?"

The compound was now nothing more than a few pieces of debris and smoking ruins. Bodies were littered around, death in all forms and in varying levels of brutality a human mind can barely imagine, blood was spattered over almost every single square meter, vehicles were destroyed, and fire was commonplace.

"Yes Demo, we did. Now I believe we should get back, it's getting late." The Spy said, turning around and walking back into the treeline. "We shouldn't keep the fine ladies at base waiting. After all, 'Hell Hath no fury like a woman scorned'."

Scout rolled his eyes at Spy's use of the age-old saying. "Yeah yeah, all the ladies are too soft to hurt my handsome face. So that's invalid to me." He slung his bat over his shoulder and began following the assassin into the clearing in the forest.

Engineer chuckled and put his pistol back into his holster and began walking, until he heard the sound of slapping. "Soldier! Stop beating that body!"

The American did not hear him, instead choosing to continue beating the living(?) shit out of the dead body of a TFC Sniper. He had to be given a shot of anesthesia by the Medic to finally calm him down from his battle adrenaline, and placed in the back of the Sniper's van. "Alright! We're movin' out!" Sniper released the brake and drove his vehicle down the narrow dirt road they came from, leading to a road. Which then he flicked the switch and the van zoomed off into the sunrise, accompanied by a chorus of screaming men slowly fading out.

 **One Hour Later**

"Brake!" Sniper's left hand reached for the emergency brake and pulled it, making the entire van stop abruptly. Save for the Sniper and Engineer, the ones sitting in the driver's compartment, the rest toppled over from the force of inertia and slammed into the thin metal sheet separating the driver's and passengers' compartment. A bulge appeared in the metal in the shape of Heavy's body pressed up against it.

"Fuck inertia!" A muffled Scout's voice sounded.

"And that!" Sniper said triumphantly. "Is why you wear seatbelts!" He opened the door to the passengers' compartment and Scout fell down on to the floor. The Demoman, Spy and Medic were sitting on top of each other as the others were pressed up against the wall.

"There ain't any seatbelts here, dumbass!" Scout weakly croaked out as the air was pushed out of his lungs by the mercenaries on top of him. "Ge' off me!"

After a series of awkward positioning and attempts to get out of said awkward positioning, the men finally got off the vehicle and walk back into the base, where they were greeted by Team RWBY and the Rose. "Professors! How's the mission?" Yang asked as she wringed her hands.

"Smooth." Was the only response they got, as the merc's were all relatively worn out from the battle before. "I'm going to hit the bed. G'night." Engineer slowly trudged to the barracks and slammed the door before the girls could ask anything.

"Damn. Guess he's really exhausted." Sniper commented, before yawning. "Anyways, I'm going to bed. Don't wake me up after at least eight hours or risk having a bullet embedded in you skull." He said all-too casually. The Sniper followed the Texan and went into the barracks, and into the room he and Engineer shared.

"Found what you wanted?" The Australian said, leaning on the wall opposite of the Engineer.

"… Naw, I couldn't find anything on my dad. The only thing that might be of use is that there's a record in the computer logs that the 'original' team were moving out…" The Engineer laid back on his bed and sighed. "Where to, I don't know. It was redacted."

"… Why do you want to find your dad so badly?"

The Texan looked confused at the Sniper's question. "What do you mean?"

"I meant exactly what I said. And yes, I know, because you said that you wanted a family reunion," Sniper said. "But there's something other than that. So tell me, why do you want to find your father?"

"I…" The man took off his hardhat and sighed again. "I found an invention of his years ago. I did everything I could, but I couldn't crack what it is. So, I want to find my father for that." The Engineer looked the Sniper in the eyes. "I'm a man of science, friend. And I don't let _anything_ go unexplained."

Sniper crossed his arms and became silent for a while, before speaking up. "… So you're saying you don't _actually_ want to reunite with your father, and you just want to use him for your own personal gains?"

"Me? Reunite with him? Heck no – He's a dick! He killed his own wife and tried to frame me for it! And when he failed to do so, he played it off as an 'accident'. An accident – Getting stabbed in the back – A fucking accident my damned ass!"

The Engineer slowed his quickening breathing and calmed down, before continuing.

"Worse of all, the police can't touch him. They don't have enough evidence for it! Besides, before he joined the TFC, my dad was the head of research on their secret projects, so they can't do jack against him even if there's evidence!"

Engineer took a deep breath and looked up at Sniper.

"So yeah, you could say I don't want to meet him. But I plan on killing him anyways after I get my hands on what that invention is!" He spat out venomously, face contorting into anger. Before dipping his head sadly.

"…"

"…"

"Tell me…" The Engineer sighed. He knew Sniper respected his dad, so his reaction to Engineer wanting to kill his father might be negative.

"… How you want his death to look like?" At that, Engineer looked up and was greeted with the smug smiling face of the marksman. "I can make it look like an accident. Or if you want, I can just kill 'im and not get traced back."

The Engineer's mouth hung in shock and surprise, but his mouth soon contorted into a devilish grin. He held up a fist in front of Sniper, to which the marksman responded in kind with a fist-bump.

"I knew ah' could count on ya, Mundy."

"Trust me Dell, say the word, and I'll be doing it." The Sniper replied in kind with a predatory grin plastered over his face.

 **-Line Break-**

"Bye Heavy! Bye Sniper! Bye Scout! Bye Soldier! Bye!" Ruby shouted, before stepping into the teleporter and disappearing in a flash of light. Team RWBY followed soon after, and Team R.E.D. were next, before finally leaving Engineer the only remaining Team R.E.D. member on Earth.

"Leavin' so soon, eh?" Sniper said, making the engineer standing next to him nod. "Mate, my offer still stands, just tell me where and how, and I'll get it done." He smiled at the man, which nodded.

"Once I get my info, then I'll tell ya." The Engineer said, before grabbing his rucksack and stepping onto the teleporter. "See ya!" He gave a two finger salute to the rest of the mercs, before finally being whisked away to Remnant.

"KILL SOME NAZI SCUM ON THAT PLANET FOR ME!" Soldier screamed as the Engineer disappeared, his hand remaining in a stiff salute all along.

Sniper looked at the empty space above the teleporter for a moment, before chuckling to himself. He smiled and turned back to his comrades in arms. "… Better get back to work, eh mates?"

 **A/N: And that concludes the Earth arc! Next chapter, Team R.E.D. and Team RWBY is back in Remnant, and we finally entered Volume 3! Featuring training, training and training in preparation for the Vytal Festival!**

 **Now, I'll have to point out something that has been bothering me. It is also the reason for why my chapters had been sporadically updated, and shortened.**

 **I don't write for views and attention, no, I write for fun and the want to put my thoughts and ideas into word form and putting it on show for the world. But, I've been hitting obstacles lately. Namely the lack of reviews and feedback.**

 **Feedback, in my opinion, is what can drive writers to continue writing, as pointed out by a** _ **very**_ **helpful review by the** _ **Reviewer UN**_ **. I'm dangerously close to dropping this story and moving on to another by now, but his review really gave me something to think about.**

 **Anyways, my point is that writing to an invisible audience is hard. So, if you can, I apologize in advance if I sound a bit overbearing, point out facts, errors, grammar, plot holes, or even outright critisize me. But, if you don't feel like wanting to review, then I'm not pushing you to, it's up to you.**

 **But nontheless, I will continue to put out chapters, just not on a very stable schedule.**

 **And so, concludes this Author's note!**

 **Reviewer UN: That was a good Christmas gift, really lifted my spirits somewhat. Yes, it's true that a lack of viewer feedback is the main wedge for me here. I won't say Chief of RAGE 'stole' my audience, more like he catered to a much larger audience than my story does. He is my BETA for a while now, and has been really helpful. All in all, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.**

 **Also thanks to Chief of RAGE for the BETAing! Go check his story out by the way if you haven't, it's certainly better than mine.**

 **Bye!**


	15. Setup Time

"Look, I get that we need to get them in shape for the Vi… Vi…"

"Vytal Festival."

"Right. That. But ain't this a tad bit too extreme for 'em?"

The Spy waved his hand. "Oh please, nothing they can't handle." He gestured to the scene unfolding before him. The Engineer took a glance and immediately grimaced as Jaune was sent flying and crashed into a wall. Painfully.

"... Well even if they can't handle it, the beast is harmless." Spy said as he took a puff. Nearby, Jaune groaned loudly.

"Well I'm _certainly_ hurting right now!" He muttered from his spot on the ground.

Spy glanced at the boy briefly. " _Mostly_ harmless. Anyways, this is to get them back into shape for the Vytal Festival. Trust me, it's necessary."

"… Alright…y?"

"NOO! RUBY!" A smack, and the fearless leader of Team RWBY crumpled down on the floor right beside the two chairs the mercs were sitting on. "YOU MONSTER!"

Yang exploded in rage, and blast-jumped towards her opponent, readying her fist for an attack…

… Only to have it harmlessly bounce off the bread skin. Another resounding 'Smack!', and Yang Xiao Long is out of the ring.

"What is this!? An Earth creature!?" Weiss yelled, before jumping back from a near miss of the creature's tentacles. "Hey!"

With a roar, the monster twirled its tentacles around, before spinning it around with speeds of upwards to twenty miles per hour. The speeding limb slammed into an unlucky Ren and Blake, and off they flew into the wall.

"Ugh… Alright!" Spy yelled out, before clapping his hands. "Class dismissed! Make sure to be ready for the next class, the Vytal Festival is only a few weeks away!"

"Ouch… Just looking at them makes me hurt…" A feminine voice said beside the duo.

"Oh, ma'am. Oh yeah, you had no idea how much it hurts when we fought it… Ugh, still havin' chills 'bout it." Summer grimaced slightly, but nodded. "So… how's the arm?"

"Hm. Works good. Also free of any scars from my Huntress career! That's a plus!" She exclaimed ecstatically. "Gotta thank that wizard though, might've never cured that infection without 'im."

"Sure, though I think he's…"

* * *

"Ma'am, I'm here on reports that gunfire was heard comin' from 'ere. Mind explainin' that?" The police officer drawled over slowly.

"Uh… W-What gunfire? T-There's N-Nothing here worth i-inspecting!" Merasmus stuttered out.

Not convinced, the police officer sighed and pushed the wizard aside. "Excuse me ma'am, but I'm obliged to inspect your property now. Now what's this?"

Merasmus' eyes widened when the officer knelt down to open one of the chests, and frantically rushed over to stop her from doing so, but to no avail. The chest lid creaked open, and the policewoman gagged.

"Ugh! Ma'am, you are now hereby under arrest for violating animal violence laws. Those kittens deserve a better fate…" She said as she slapped the handcuffs onto the wizard's hand.

"What?! I-I did no such thing!"

The officer sighed exasperatedly. "You have the right to remain silent. Now please shut up and get moving."

"WHY!?"

* * *

"… Yeah he's probably good now."

* * *

 **Team RWBY**

"Mmm… Zere… and… Zere! Good as new!" The German happily exclaimed as he finished his healing on the four girls. "Zat bread monster can be a bit dangerous at times, though zon't vorry! Zat is only one of zem!"

"Tha- Wait ONE of them!? Professor Spy wants to let us face MORE at once?!" Yang asked worrily. Nearby, her teammates faces' collectively paled.

"Oh ja! Of course! Vat zid you expect? Pfft. Viel Gluck!" The doctor turned his back, waved, and then left the four terrified girl behind.

"… H-How could they get more of those… Bread Monsters?" Ruby shakily asked.

"I don't know Rubes… I hope I don't." Yang replied in a similarly shaky voice. The team sat there for some after that, with the sounds of wind blowing accompanying the silence.

"So uh, anybody up for lunch?" Ruby asked.

To which Weiss replied, "It's already six, we've been fighting for seven hours non-stop, let's go." The Ice Queen's cold demeanor was shattered under hunger, having no more strength to argue or bitch about things.

* * *

 **Cafeteria**

"Hey guys." Jaune weakly called out, wincing as he nursed his right arm. His team sat alongside him as they watched Team RWBY sit down opposite of them. "So what did you think about Professor Spy's class? You know, since he- Ow! Made us fight that monster."

"Bread Monster." Ren spoke up, his eyes not leaving his tray of chicken porridge.

"R-Right, but let's not talk about that, let's eat." The others agreed, and thus they dug into their respective meals. Their relative silence was shattered violently when a rather high-pitched voice reached their ears.

"Hello~~! So how's the fight? Lookin' pretty roughed up!" Summer threw her arms over Ruby and Yang and pressed them close together. "Hey, c'mon! Why ya'll so depressed?"

Jaune chose to spoke up. "W-We're not depressed, just… Tired, yeah tired."

"Hmpf. If that Grimm-wannabe is gonna make you tired like that, then guess you're not fit to be a Huntsman at all!" Summer joked, but still no response came from the group.

"… Alright then. Take your rest. 'Night Little Rubes, 'night Lil' dragon." Summer softly pecked both her daughters' foreheads, making Ruby blush slightly while Yang just gave a small smile.

"Aww! They're so cuuute!" Nora, the only one with some energy remaining in the group, squealed. Summer grinned and walked away from Team RWBY and JNPR. "Goodnight Mrs. I-Forgot-Your-Name!" Nora yelled, earning her a short chuckle from the woman in question.

"And goodnight to you too, Miss Nora Ren!" Summer replied, before continuing her walk back to her temporary dorm room.

"Bonsoir, Madame Rose. I see you're still out walking about." Summer turned around, and saw the Frenchman sitting on a bench with a cigarette in his mouth, as always. "I can't blame you. It certainly is relaxing to watch the garden. Especially after a long day."

Summer shrugged. "No, I was just going back to my dorm. Figured I'd take the scenic route."

"Well then, sorry for bothering you. Bonne nuit."

"Sorry?"

"Oh, Bonne nuit: Good night. It's my native tongue."

The Rose nodded, then bid the assassin goodnight. However, just before she left the gardens, Spy called out. "Also, I hope you resolve your daughter's situation. Post-traumatic stress can be very tiring to deal with."

"I will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

 **Team RWBY's Dorm Room – The next day**

"Ugh… Mm, Rubes, what time issit?" Yang groaned from her bunk, as she stirred from her slumber. "Rubes?" Yang groggily looked at Ruby's bunk, seeing her sister still asleep soundly. "Ugh…"

Tiredly, Yang got down from her bed and walked – More or less dragged herself – To her study desk. She managed to reach for her Scroll in her tired state and turned the device on to check the time.

"Ten-Forty five… Wai- Ten forty five?! SHIT!" Dropping her Scroll like a hot propane tank, she rushed over to her closet and grabbed her combat uniform, then burst into the bathroom. A few seconds later, she ran out of the toilet and went over to her desk to grab some stuff.

"Guys! Wake up! It's ten forty five! C'mon let's go!" She shouted, stirring awake the three other girls in the room.

"No need to scream for us to wake up… What is it?" The heiress asked, the sleep still not yet gone from her blue eyes.

"We're late! To Professor Spy's class!" That single statement drove the girls into overdrive. In a few minutes, everyone was ready, save for Ruby who was busy tying her shoes and grumbling about 'Complicated laces'.

"Alright! Gotta go-Oof!" Yang opened the door, and promptly hit a waiting Jaune on the other side of the door. "Ow! What're you doing?"

"Getting you guys up! We're late!" Jaune said frantically, as his team was already seen dashing through the corridors. "Let's go!"

"God I hope we're not too late!" Ruby yelled as she ran down the corridors.

"Zey're late." Medic off-handedly commented as he sloshed around a vial of blood in his hands.

The Scottish drunkard nodded in agreement. "Aye. Those laddies 'spose to be 'ere thirty minutes ago."

"What could'ya expect from teenagers? They need their beauty sleep after all." Engineer said, just as the doors to the combat auditorium buckled open, allowing the two teams in question to flood through.

"Finally." Spy grumbled, before getting up from his chair and crossing his arms. "I see that you have finally gotten up from your beauty sleep." The two teams at least looked sheepish.

"Now, today's exercise will be special. As you noticed, no other teams are joining us today. You, the only contenders of the Vytal Festival Tournament, will be receiving special training from today onwards, and you only." Spy said while his left hand expertly played with his signature butterfly knife.

"Uh…" Jaune's hand reluctantly went up, but retracted back after a few seconds of deliberation.

"Jaune, speak." Spy said, more or less ordering the poor boy.

"Uh… I-I was j-just wanting to a-ask, what k-kind of training are we g-going to be receiving?" He asked uneasily, his right hand reaching for the back of his neck.

"Hmpf. Meet me at the cliff where you started your initiation." Spy simply said, before turning and walking out of the hall. The other members of Team R.E.D. followed close behind.

"Uh… Okay?" Ruby slowly muttered, before shrugging and leading her team to the cliffs.

"Seriously, why are we here? Don't tell me he's gonna fling us through the air like initiation again…" Jaune uneasily commented, looking down at the drop down to the forest. "I have enough nightmares of that…"

"Don't worry, it won't be like initiation." A French accented voice came from behind them. Spy walked towards them slowly, his eyes glancing over to the horizon. "At least, it'll be different that you're not going to be launched separately…"

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, before quickly doing a double-take. "Wai – So you're still going to launch us into the forest?!" He almost screamed, to which Spy just held up a small device in his hands, a small cylinder with a red button on top, with the words 'Catapult' engraved on it.

"Oh son of a-AHHH!" Jaune's swear was cut short by the clicking of mechanisms below his feet, before being promptly sent soaring through the skies, his team following shortly after, all in the general direction and trajectory of their leader.

"Well, your turn." Spy flipped the cylinder around, and then pressed the other button on the bottom-now-top side. Team RWBY's slight panic was soon drowned out by the sound of the mechanisms activating, sending the girls flying in another trajectory and direction.

"I see that you've taken inspiration from me." A voice spoke up from behind Spy, and the assassin had to restrain himself from accidentally shooting the man in the head.

"Headmaster Ozpin, fancy seeing you here. May I ask why are you here?" Spy asked, to which Ozpin replied with a smile.

"Why, how can I possibly miss the launching of students into the air? It's become a tradition, a source of stress relief to me even, just watching them fly, while screaming obscenities at you, simply relaxing…"

Spy looked at the man oddly, before shrugging.

"I'm sure you'll agree. Oh, and you might want to prepare your briefing soon, they're about to land." The headmaster pointed out, before turning and walking away. "Best of luck to you."

Spy stood there looking at the Huntsman's back, before going back to his work.

…

"You know, it _is_ actually quite fun watching them fly through the air…"

* * *

"-AHHHHHH – Oof! Ah! That hurt!" Jaune grumbled out, before standing up from his mini crater and surveying his surroundings. A bright red bundle of hair caught his sight, and Jaune's eyes lit up. "Pyrrha! Over here!"

The redhead heard his voice and turned around, with her weapons in hand. "Jaune! Are you okay?" She asked worryingly, running towards her team leader.

Jaune dusted off some grime from his hoodie. "Pyrrha, I'm fine, just a bit sore all round. By the way, you see anyone else?"

Pyrrha lifted a finger westwards. "I saw Nora and Ren land over there, but otherwise I didn't see anyone else. Not sure about Team RWBY though, we were- hey what's that?" Pyrrha shifted her finger at something wooden concealed behind a bush.

"It looks like…" Jaune knelt down near the bush and began to grab the sign out of the soil. "It's… Ugh! There we go… It says, 'Go West – Professor Spy'. Guess we know where we're headed. C'mon, we might even catch Ren and Nora along the way.

"Re~n! Ren! Where are you?!"

"Nora, you're going to attract all the Grimm here if you do that." Ren appeared from behind some trees, his two hands holding Stormflower at the ready.

"Oh there you are! C'mon! I saw a sign to go West left by Professor Spy!" Nora said in her ever chipper voice.

Ren looked at her confusedly. "And how did you get that sign?"

Nora said nothing but pointed at a glowing neon sign behind Ren with the words 'GO WEST' written in all caps in glowing white light. "Oh."

"Hey guys! It's us!" Jaune and his partner walked out of the treeline and into the small clearing Ren and Nora landed into. "You guys know where to go?"

"Of course we do! We go West! Right Ren? Wait, where's West?"

"Guess we're lucky that we landed together." The blonde commented as she affixed her gauntlets.

The brunette nearby nodded. "Won't have to spend more time finding each other, like Initiation."

"Ruby! Get down from there this instant!"

"But Weiss! There's this cute little squirrel running around and I wanna pet it!" Ruby said in a pleading tone, only to be glared at hard by the Schnee.

"Hehe, on second thoughts, you're right." Ruby climbed off the tree branch and jumped off the tree, landing with as much grace as a sniper-scythe wielding girl could muster, which isn't a lot. "So now that we're together, where are we going?"

"This I know, we're going Eastwards, there's a sign right behind you, look." Following Weiss' gaze, Ruby turned around and peered at the fairly new looking sign embedded in the ground.

 _Team RWBY – Go East – Professor Spy_

"Ok… Alright! Today, the glorious Team RWBY will embark on an epic trip! Advance!" Ruby proceeded to hum a cheerful song while her team caught up with her enthusiasm.

"Good to see that Ruby is still up in spirits." Blake said beside Yang, who smiled upon hearing that.

"Well, she's my sister, of course she's like that."

* * *

 **Team R.E.D.**

"Have they reached their destinations yet?"

"Almost, they oughta' get there by… five more minutes."

Spy nodded. "Alright, tell me when they enter the compound."

The Texan gave a thumbs up. "Ya' got it."

"Demoman! Are the traps all set?" The Scotsman perked up at the mention of his name, and gave a predatory smile. "Aye! Got the det'nator 'ere!" The man held up a small detonator with a flashing green light.

"Good, get ready to activate them. Medic!" The doctor looked at Spy over his shoudler. "Are the shields ready?"

"Ja, the entire kilometer is ready!"

"Pyro! … Uh… Just be Pyro."

"Mhmm!"

Spy turned back towards the Engineer. "Have they entered the compound?"

Engineer opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a sharp ping from the computer console in front of him. "Just in time, they've entered the radius!"

"Alright. Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

 **Team RWBY**

"I see something!"

"What did you see?" Yang walked up to Blake, who is currently peering at the horizon.

"… Buildings, I cound five of them. Looks like a run down place, but doesn't have any signs of overgrowth or damage, as if it is built to be look like it's run down… Anyways, there seems to be no one there.

"Who would just build something then leave it like that?" Weiss questioned to no one in particular. "What do we do?" She turned to Ruby, who was holding a chin in thought.

"… Well, the signs written by Professor Spy points to here, so it must be our destination, right? Though I've never seen a town here before…"

Ruby though for a little while more before shrugging and turning back to her teammates. "Anyways! I say we go in that town and see what's in store! All say aye!"

"Aye!/Aye…?/Aye." Yang, Blake and Weiss respectively gave their response.

"Alright! Let's go!"

* * *

 **Team JNPR**

"It's a ghost town…" Jaune commented, his sword and shield ready.

The buildings were looking like they were freshly made, with some parts of paint still visibly moist and absolutely no sign of overgrowth and the ground spotless. The buildings themselves were made of hard concrete and painted in blue in some parts.

After being suggested to by Pyrrha, Jaune decided to order – More or less ask – His team to draw weapons and be at the ready, as they are in the Emerald Forest after all, with Grimm being a very common sight.

"And what's with all those signs? Battlements, Resupply, Control point? What's that?" Nora asked, as the team walked into a plaza. True enough, bright blue signs littered the plaza, each pointing to a different direction and being labelled in bold white letters.

"This is getting rather cree-"

 ***BZZT***

After promptly scaring the living daylights out of the blonde, the megaphone crackled and buzzed to life.

* * *

 **Team RWBY**

"What was that?!" Everyone quickly drew their weapons and formed up into a circle, constantly looking out for any signs of danger in the old run down plaza, with red signs dotting the walls.

" _Attention, Team RWBY and Team JNPR."_ A distinctly French voice cackled out of the megaphones. _"I'm sure you are all very confused right now, well allow me to clear those confusions."_

" _Team RWBY, you are now designated as RED Team for the remainder of this training exercise. Team JNPR, you are to be designated as BLU Team."_

"Blue Team? Red Team? What is he talking about?!" Weiss shouted out, her Myrtenaster in her hands.

" _You both are on separate sections of this map. You have only one objective."_

* * *

 **Team JNPR**

" _Eliminate the opposing Team. Standard Tournament heath gauging applies; Once your Aura hits the red zone, you're out."_

"So it's a match?" Jaune questioned loudly, hoping the professor can hear him.

" _Correct, Mister Arc. I can both see, and hear you. A shield has been erected across the entire one-kilometer combat zone."_ Looking up, the team saw a red coloured dome over their heads. _"Courtesy of Medic, nothing will come in, or out until only one team remains standing. Any Questions?"_

"Yes! What about the Grimm? Also, What's this for? This is too elaborate to be a training match is it?" This time, Pyrrha questioned the professor.

" _To answer your first question, the Grimm have been taken care of, you won't have to worry about them. As for the second question, well."_

"Well what?" Ren said, his Stormflower sweeping the buildings.

" _Well, this_ is _too elaborate for a training match. Thus, this is not a training match."_ A short pause followed the statement.

" _This is Arena mode, now_ ** _fight!_** _"_

* * *

 **A/N: And I'm back! After, what, a month? Well, been enjoying my Lunar New Year a bit too much, I mean, I am Chinese, so a trip to my hometown is warranted.**

 **So, I promised fights last chapter, but I can't squeeze them in this chapter. I wanted to get this out faster since I've already delayed this multiple times, so I'll promise a fight(s) will be in order next chapter. Sorry!**

 **And one thing: Thank you all for your support, those who dropped a review, thank you. Thank you to those who favorited and followed this story as well, it truly means a lot to me!**

 **And now, on to the reviews!**

 **Darkromdemon: Thanks! And true, I do find the comic multiple times more amusing and epic than my chapter. Yeah, though she's gonna die soon now… Probably?**

 **Madlice in Pyrol: No need to say much, just a review is good enough for me :) Don't worry, I won't abandon this story, I'm just taking it slowly. Your English is perfectly fine! Nothing wrong with it, though I might be wrong…**

 **chief of RAGE: Thank you my friend! And yes, English isn't my first language. Thank you for staying with me for such a long(?) time! -PS, your name is a bitch to type because Microsoft Word insists that the 'c' in 'chief' is a capital instead of a lower case.**

 **And that's all for now! See ya next one!**


	16. Arena Mode - First Half

"Wait, what? Arena mode? What's that?"

As the confused Jaune looked around, Nora grenade jumped a good distance away, shouting. "Who cares!? Let's fight!"

"Nora! Not so fast!" Ren gripped his dual SMGs tighter and sprinted in the direction the pink maniac flew, leaving a trail of dust behind.

"No! We must- Ah, nevermind." Jaune sighed dejectedly. Pyrrha sympathetically put a hand on her leader's shoulder.

"It's alright, Jaune. They can handle themselves." She said reassuringly, earning a small smile from the blonde knight.

"Yeah. Anyways, we better keep moving. Ruby's weapon is a sniper rifle, and if I remember right, it is awesomely powerful." Jaune said, before hefting his shield up and advancing towards a path leading out of the plaza with the Amazonian following closely behind.

 **Team RWBY**

"So… It _is_ a fight! Good! I've been itching to fight something." Yang smashed her fists together, producing a small shockwave.

"Alright team, here's the plan. We stick together, and we try to keep moving. Sound good?" Ruby said as she scanned held Crescent Rose in rifle form.

"Good enough. So where do we head first? There's three roads here." Blake pointed out, raising a finger at the three paths leading to different buildings respectively. "I can probably get up to that building up there if you want me to scout ahead, but it's your call."

"No no, we stick together. I just said that, right? Besides, we'll have a better chance of fighting them if we face them as a team."

Weiss nodded. "I agree with Ruby. For once. Still, I think it would be rather hard for us to navigate, with the pathways so narrow." Sure enough, the paths were narrow and tight, allowing passage to two person side-by-side at most. Weiss shuddered slightly when she saw a rat scuttle across the empty pathway.

"Hmm… Well, can't help it then. We can navigate via the rooftops though." The second the redhead's sentence came out of her mouth, a nearby bird landed and decided that an old and cracked roof tile was a good spot to perch on, and perch on it did, before promptly falling down through the roof.

"… On second thought we'll just navigate by foot…"

 **Team JNPR**

"How big is this place?" The blonde questioned out loud, while his partner scanned the path ahead with her M1 Garand-like rifle.

"I don't think it's that big. They couldn't have built such a place in so little time." Pyrrha commented.

"True, but-"

"Hey Jaune-y boy! Time to eat this!" A crack, and a ball of yellow crashed into the poor boy, eliciting a loud cry of pain and several discharges of Milo's rounds.

"That hurt!" Jaune managed to get out, but not before barely dodging a right hook from the brawler.

"Then I'm doing good!" Yang screamed out as she continued to throw punches, but was interrupted in her spree by a few bullets pinging off her Aura. "Alright, you're low priority; P-money, you're up!"

The buxom blonde pointed Ember Celica backwards and fired as she jumped, propelling herself towards the Amazonian, eyes filled with deadly playfulness. Unfortunately for her, Pyrrha rolled out of the way, and quickly raised her rifle and fired off a few rounds.

"Yang! Don't go blasting off like that!" A shrill voice shouted out, but was largely muffled by the sounds of battle. "There she goes again!" The voice shouted out once more, and was soon revealed to be the SDC's Heiress' voice, as she flew overhead with her glyphs.

"I'm not too quick!" Yang responded, throwing a few punches towards a constantly dodging Pyrrha. "You're just too slow!" A few more blasts, another building on the collateral damage list.

"Wha- Ugh, just keep fighting!" Weiss shouted back, her Myrtenaster starting to glow red. A swish of her weapon, Weiss sent a wave of fire spewing towards the redhead and Jaune.

Distracted by dodging Yang's ferocious assault, Pyrrha did not notice the wave of fire moving rapidly towards her. However, Jaune did, and he quickly dived into Pyrrha, sending her just out of harm into a nearby path with some walls for cover, all the while exposing himself to the searing heat.

"Jaune! Are you okay?!" Pyrrha quickly got up, pushing Jaune off of her and pulling him up in the process. A few shards of ice almost struck them when the champion tried to walk out of the pathway.

"Nothing much, just some scratches, I have a lot of Aura, you said so!"

Nodding, Pyrrha took a peek outside, but was quickly forced back into cover as a shot from Ember Celica almost hit her. "Can't go this way." She said rather calmly, as she ejected the rifle's en-bloc clip and slammed in a fresh one.

Jaune bit his lip nervously. "Damnit… This place's a dead end as well…" He glanced over to his left, where a cement wall was standing in the way of a clear exit. "What do we do…"

His answer came in the form of thunder.

Explosive thunder.

 _Pink_ Explosive thunder.

"YEEEEEEHAAW!" A loud warcry echoed through the area, as a certain mentally unstable woman landed in the middle of Yang and Weiss with a giant warhammer in hand. Yang was quick enough to GTFO, but Weiss was a bit slow, and was hit by the shockwave of the sheer kinetic energy of Nora's landing.

"HAMMERTIME!" She shouted out a warcry, before unleashing maniacal destruction.

Being surprised by the Thor-like lady's landing, Yang did not have much time to recover before a grenade slammed into her Aura and sending her flying into a wall, cracking it. A second one was sent flying towards her, but she was fast enough to blast-jump out of the way. Another building to the collateral list.

"Weiss! Need a lil' help 'ere!" Yang shouted out to the still-recovering Weiss, who started to get up on her feet.

"Alright! Just keep moving!" Weiss pressed the trigger on her hilt, spinning the revolving chamber inside Myrtenaster. With three swishes of her rapier, three ice shards materialized in front of her, before a thrust of her weapon sent them flying towards Nora.

"Oh no you don't!" Nora reacted in time, firing a grenade under her feet, and flying off on top of a building. She recoiled under the inertia of her jump, but soon turned her grenade launcher back onto her targets.

Nearby, Jaune took a peek outside, and saw a chance. "Pyrrha! We should get up on the buildings. We'll get the high ground advantage!"

After the redhead nodded, Jaune knelt down and folded his palms over one another, offering it out to Pyrrha. Accepting the help, the champion hopped on his hands and climbed up onto the flat roofs of a building.

"Jaune! Grab my hand!" Pyrrha offered her hand to Jaune, to which he grabbed hold of and hoisted himself up, although with slight difficulty.

"Run! That spot should give some cover!" Jaune pointed at some walls protruding out of the roof, and they sprinted towards it. "Move!"

Multiple cracks sounded, as rounds passed over the duos head's. "C'mon!"

Catching a glimmer in the distance, Jaune craned his head up, focusing his eyes on a tower in the distance, but the glimmering light was gone. The tower itself looked like it was slanting on one side, and was about to topple. However, the glimmer shined again.

His mind began to think quickly. _"Wait, there's only Weiss and Yang here, then where's Blake and-"_ Realization dawned. _"Oh"._

Grabbing his shield and hoisting it in front of him, he began to sprint even faster, before surpassing the Amazonian. Ignoring her wide eyes, Jaune jumped in front of Pyrrha just in time to see the glimmer shine once more.

"Pyrrha, duck!"

 ***BANG***

Ruby smiled triumphantly, expecting to see Pyrrha with a weakened Aura, but instead what she got when she looked through her scope was Jaune jumping in front of the redhead and stopping her bullet with his shield, the bullet pinging off of it barely making a scratch of the paint job.

"Aww…" Ruby was hoping she hit her target, then her team would be able to take out one of JNPR's best fighter and the match would – Hopefully - go in their favor.

Not even waiting for Jaune to get up, Ruby cocked the bolt back, and pushed it back into place. She aligned the sights with Pyrrha's head, and fired. Once again, Jaune came to the rescue when he ran in front with his shield raised, blocking her shot once more.

"Ah fudge…" She 'swore' as she continued to fire at the duo, but with Jaune in front of Pyrrha with his shield up, it's hard to land a hit, especially if they're moving.

"Blake! You better hurry into your position!" The 15-year old talked into her scroll, before rescoping and fired off a few rounds.

" _I'm in position, ready!"_

"Keep firing! We're almost there!" Jaune shouted as a few heavy .50 cal rounds pinged off his shield. Behind him, Pyrrha was pointing her rifle at Yang and Weiss, firing off rounds and loading in en-bloc clips just as fast while the rifle was steadied with her shield.

A thought ran by in his head, _'Thank god those aren't anti-tank rounds… Huh. I've been gaining more facts about weaponry since I've been friends with Ruby… Don't know if that's a good thing or-'_ That thought was quickly shot down quite literally, as a round impacted where his foot is, just as he was about to get into the cover of the walls.

"OW!" Dropping his shield in pain, his momentum carried him forwards, slamming into the wall. "OW!"

"Thanks, and sorry!" Pyrrha was being a Canadian and ducked into cover, periodically popping out to a fire a few shots.

"Huff… Huff… Wait… Where's Ren?"

 **Meanwhile**

"Huff… Huff… Huuuh… Not… So fast… Nora…" A green robed boy commented tiredly, before breaking into a light if not painful-looking jog towards the sounds of explosions and gunfire. Oh and pink mushroom clouds.

"Hah! I can't believe that girl learned from Pyro!" Engineer chuckled as he reviewed the footage from the battle still ongoing, as a loud 'HAMMERTIME' resonated from the computer's speakers. Behind him, Pyro cheered happily as it held his Powerjack above her head.

"Ah' reckon that the pink lass over 'ere would put ah bit more explosive into her 'nades, would make for a nice show." Demoman said in his Scottish accent with a bottle of old scrumpy from the old times of 1680. How did that bottle of whiskey not melt his stomach yet, no one may ever know.

"Yoo-hoo!" A chirpy voice interrupted the mercenaries' banter. A pile of red head hung down from the entrance hatch in the ceiling of the room, a small pile of white rose petals gliding down the ground as Summer did a somersault and landed feet first.

"FUCKMOTHERIN'- Mrs. Rose! Please! Don't scare us like that!" Engineer exasperatedly said, taking deep, rapid breaths and holding a hand over his chest. "We could'a shot yer head off!"

"Hm… Well, you didn't! That's the point!" The Rose held up a finger triumphantly. "Besides, can't I look at what you're doing?"

Engineer gave Spy a look, to which he nodded. "Alrighty, take a look." He waved a hand at the computer screen. Summer decided that she was too lazy to walk, so she used her semblance and blinked in front of the console.

"Wait, who're they fighting against?" Summer asked, which Spy responded by pressing a small button labeled 'R-14', switching the camera's view to that of two teens taking cover behind a brick wall on top of a rooftop. "… Why are there random walls scattered around on the rooftops?"

Engineer rubbed his hands together for a while, before answering the woman's question. "Well, we wanted to have the combat arena to be as realistic as possible, having a flat rooftop with absolutely no cover is not a good idea."

Summer nodded at that. "Good point." She then continued to observe the camera output. "So who's winning?" She questioned.

"Looks like they're gonna be locked in a stalema'e fer some time." Demoman quipped up, taking another swig of scrumpy at the same time. "Aah, that's the stuff."

"Hey! Gimme some." The explosive specialist pulled out a bottle from hammerspace and chucked it towards the woman. "Thanks. Sniff sniff… Smells strong…" With a small shrug, the Rose downed the entire bottle in one swig, before letting out a loud burp.

"Hn… This is good! Got some more?"

Demoman smirked and yet again, pulled out multiple bottles from hammerspace. "Aye!"

A nearby Texan promptly facepalmed. "Great."

" _Hit 'em kitty cat!"_

The brunette sighed exasperatedly at her – honestly – racist nickname, never stopping in her mad dash towards her targets. She pocketed her Scroll and began going over the battle plan Ruby had set up.

According to the rough battle tactic they planned right before the confrontation, Ruby would provide sniper support from afar, while Yang and Weiss confronted Team JNPR head-on.

As for Blake, she was being tasked with flanking them and catching them off-guard, allowing her other teammates a chance to get a hit off of them.

That was the plan, but as the saying goes, 'No plan ever survives contact with the enemy'.

In her case, that would running into a huffing and puffing boy with dual SMGs leaning against the wall as she turned into an alleyway. Her eyes widened slightly, as well as her opponents'. Both stared each other down, an awkward silence hanging over the small alley.

And as if the dams broke, Ren forgot about his exhausted stamina and brought his guns up as fast as he could. Blake secretly thanked her Faunus traits as her reaction speeds did not fail her in rolling out of the way from narrowly missing bullets.

Disregarding that his shots went wide, the boy continued firing as the Faunus took cover behind a wall. Ren stopped firing just for a moment, before lowering himself for a dash towards Blake's position. As his feet propelled him forward, a hand wielding Gambol Shroud stuck out from behind cover and began firing, some rounds striking Ren's Aura. The boy grunted quietly, before jumping into the air to avoid another burst.

Upon hearing the Asian-esque boy grunt, Blake released her finger's pressure on the slick metal trigger and peeked and eye out to confirm the whereabouts of the boy. To her great surprise, the boy did not stop running towards her position, instead of rushing into cover like she expected, and he was closing on her fast. With a quick press of a button, Gambol Shroud transformed into its blade form, as Blake readied for an upwards slash.

Ren saw the attack coming and brought his guns together to block the slash. Black and green blades connected, making sparks fly as their sharp edges attempted to slice through the other. Blake responded to the block in kind by bringing up her weapon's sheath slash club and slamming it onto the boy's head. The Mistralian was caught unaware by the club to his head, giving an opening to the Faunus which she took greedily. Another slash to the gut lowered his Aura by another chunk as he was pushed back by the force of the attack.

Blake smirked slightly, before shaking her head and pressing on the attack. Her blade shined against the light from the sun as it was brought down on the dazed boy. A sharp 'clang' reached the Faunus' ears as Ren held the sword with one of his machine-pistol's sickle blade, while another was leveled at Blake's head. Her eyes widened as she attempted to block the sure to be incoming bullets with her sheath, but even with her speed, blocking subsonic Dust rounds at point-blank range is an impossible feat.

Ren grunted as the recoil from the SMG tired his body even further, not to mention his left hand desperately struggling to stop the blade overhead from slicing into his Aura. Blake's head jerked back as the Dust-infused rounds tore into her Aura.

A dull pain was felt by Blake on her face, just like every other time she was hurt. At least, with her Aura still up. Blake quickly recovered and released her pressure on the one of the SMG's sickle blades and jumped a few feet away. Pressing the transformation mechanism button, the blade transformed into a machine pistol.

Ren saw Blake aligning her sights on him, and did not waste much time in dashing forward in his attempts to knock the weapon out of her grasp. But before he could get in range, a burst of bullets cancelled his momentum as they rammed into his Aura and dropping it by a considerable margin.

The boy stumbled backwards from the impact, but the Faunus' attack did not stop here. A short burst was fired, the dull thumping of Gambol Shroud's firing mechanism and explosion of fire Dust within the barrel was soon replaced by a sharp ringing in Ren's ears as multiple rounds whizzed loudly by them, missing by mere millimeters. In a futile attempt to stop the ringing, Ren covered his ears with his hands, all the while giving Blake a very delectable opening. With a slice, Ren's Aura was down to a quarter of what it was a few moments ago. Another slash, it was down to fifty percent of what it was.

As the ringing in his ears finally stopped, Ren quickly swiped his weapons at the girl, pushing her back a few feet, before leveling his weapons at the Faunus and squeezed the trigger tightly without much hesitation. Blake moved forward even more and ducked under the stream of bullets and transformed Gambol Shroud back into its blade form to block an attempt to stab her in the head by the boy.

Ren grunted as his attack was blocked by the former White Fang militant and raised his other SMG and swiped it at the girl, but thanks to her heightened Faunus senses and reactionary times, the gun was knocked away by her sheath club. His face started to show signs of slight panic as his machine pistol clattered onto the ground.

Blake then executed an attack that could be called elegant – First, Blake stopped blocking the remaining sickle blade overhead, sliding her sword away along with her body allowing the boy to fall face-forward into the ground due to the sheer force he invested into attempting to overpower her. But before her could hit the ground, Blake raised her sword's sheath and held it in a reverse grip as she swiped it upwards, smacking right into the boy's face.

As the boy's face's momentum changed from downwards to upwards, the ex-militant twisted her wrist so that the sheath is now aligned with the hitting-part aimed at the neck of Ren, and smashed it down. The resulting end was a loud smack, and a mess of green, white, black and magenta lying face-first in the ground. A still silence followed the battle as the boy groaned painfully on the cement paved alleyway.

 **BZZT**

A silence which was very suddenly interrupted by a loud buzz.

" _Lie Ren of Team JNPR Aura is now in the red. Remaining members of Team JNPR – Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkryie. All members of Team RWBY remain standing."_ The voice of Spy traveled through the loudspeakers.

"C'mon! We need to do something!" Jaune rapped his fist against his skull multiple times, wracking his brain for an idea to pull through this.

He decided to risk it and take a peek to survey the battlefield, but found that to be a terrible idea as a bullet hit where his feet was. Although his Aura shielded him from being physically damaged, it still hurt a shit-ton.

Biting back a loud grunt of pain, he held his chin with his hands and brainstormed. Suddenly, a metaphorical lightbulb appeared over his head. "Nora! Over here!"

The nearby redhead gave a mock salute and blasted-jumped herself up onto the rooftop Jaune and Pyrrha are on, firing a few grenades downwards at the two opponents down below mid-air. "What?"

"Alright Nora, listen carefully. I need you to- Wai- Nora! Keep firing down there!" Nora nodded and aimed her Magnhild at Weiss and depressed the trigger. The heiress used a glyph to jump her way to safety, a pink mushroom cloud engulfing the area she was standing in just a moment ago.

"There! See that shine? Shoot it!" As her leader commanded, Nora smiled maniacally at shifted her aim to the tower in which a slight glimmer of light was visible through a window. She mentally accounted for wind and distance, then pulled the trigger.

Ruby quietly observed the ongoing fight through the magnified lens. Some movement on the edge of her view signified something was moving, and so she shifted her aim so that her scope is clearly looking at her target, only to stare into the eyes of a madly grinning Nora and the menacing barrel of the Magnhild.

Her brain processed this information, and soon her leg muscles kicked into overdrive, jumping out of the window as used her semblance to escape a narrowly missing grenade as it slammed into her vantage point, completely decimating it as well as toppling the tower.

Now Ruby with her vantage point gone, she ran towards her teammates on the ground.

"Hey Ruby! How's it going?" Yang greeted, as if completely disregarding the bullets and red tracers flying by her face. "Things gettin' a bit heated down here.

"Yang! How's Weiss?"

The sounds of ice shards shattering and materializing in the background answered her question. "Still being ice Queen-y. So what do we do? They're holed up there, and Pyrrha's got crazy aim. By the way, how's Blake?"

"She took out Ren, she just called me, said she's on her way to us right now." Ruby looked up and saw Pyrrha poke her head up and fire off five rounds, each round impacting an ice shard sent straight for her and shattering them. Ruby nodded in respect for her outstanding aim.

"Alright, here's what we do. First, let-" Ruby's eyes instantly darted to her left when she heard a distinct thumping sounds, only to barely catch a glimpse of a grenade with pink decals flying towards her at high speeds before it blew up in her face.

Several more thumps erupted immediately after, and the entire plaza Team RWBY without it's B remained in was covered in thick smoke. Thick pink smoke. Ruby tried waving her hands in front of her, but she can't even see the ends of her fingertips.

"Ah! I can't see!" A voice said beside the duo, revealing a coughing, and very annoyed Weiss. "Whose idea was this?!"

"I'll go up and see if I can recon." Ruby readied her scyfle and semblance her up to a nearby rooftop she could barely make out. Crescent Rose at the ready, she carefully surveyed the surrounding rooftops, which are clear of the obnoxious pink smoke screen. Seeing nothing, she jumped back down into said obnoxious pink smoke screen.

"There's nothing up there." The vague outline of Yang and Weiss nodded in acknowledgement.

Distinct muzzle cracks erupting was the only warning the three got before several rounds impacted their Aura.

"Nora, now!" The voice of Jaune barked out in a hasty manner, followed by a few thumps of grenades leaving the barrel and the whistling of said grenades descending on the trio's location.

"Keep moving!" Jaune ordered, as Pyrrha and Nora ran around on the edges of the plaza, their weapons never letting up as they did so. For Nora, she was firing blindly into the air as grenades rained down destruction indiscriminately onto the plaza grounds, as Pyrrha sent accurate shots into the smoke screen, depending on the brief outlines through it to aim.

"Quick! Everyone get out!" Ruby shouted as she GTFO'ed by jumping away, her teammates soon following. Weiss, however, was unlucky enough to be targeted by Team JNPR.

Pyrrha quickly loaded in another en-bloc clip, just as Weiss used her glyphs to escape the kill zone. "Oh no you don't!" Pyrrha shifted her aim until her iron sights were directly aligned with the ice queen, and rapidly squeezed the trigger five times. All five of those rounds hit home, and Weiss' trajectory was now off.

The Amazonian brought her shield up to bear, before throwing it like a Frisbee into the smoke screen. The speed of which it traveled cleared a circular shaped hole in the still lingering smoke screen, and soon her actions were rewarded with a loud banging sound and a cry of pain.

" _Weiss Schnee of Team RWBY eliminated. Good work."_ The loudspeakers once again spoke, Spy's French accented voice echoing through the entire battleground.

"Spread out! Keep running!" At the command, Pyrrha and Nora both kept a distance from one another, moving around the smoke screen in an attempt to find the two missing members of Team RWBY.

 **Meanwhile**

" _There!"_ Several shots followed that shout, the dull thumping of Dust-based weaponry emanating from the pair of speakers near the console.

Summer leaned in to get a better look at the screen, much to the annoyance of Spy, who was sitting in front of said screen. "Looks like a pretty intense firefight…" She offhandedly commented, a bottle of alcohol still firmly grasped in her hands.

Spy sighed, pressing a small button on the side of the screen as he did so. The view of Pyrrha firing shots at an unknown enemy fizzled before changing to that of a bird's eye view of the entire arena.

"Hmmn. Looks like those Grimm are getting very agitated." True to her word, a large collection of Grimm of various size and lethality converged on the perimeters of the battleground, futilely attempting to somehow claw their way into the arena. "How're you're gonna deal with that?" Another chug of the bottle.

This time, the Texan replied nearby. "We got that under control ma'am." He casually pressed a button, and through the bird's eye view camera of the arena, the Grimm were dying by the dozens as they were mowed down by machinegun fire.

"Wha-" The older Rose squinted her eyes at the screen, barely making out red and black shapes on the forest grounds, muzzle flashes illuminating their slick black gatling gun barrels.

"Sometimes," The Engineer sat back in his chair. "Ya just need a lil' more gun."

"I can drink to that." Summer once again downed another gulp of alcohol. She has a surprisingly strong stomach. "So, how long this gonna take?"

Spy glanced over at the screen, his eyes quickly surveying the battle situation. "Most likely within ten to twenty minutes."

"Awww. I wanted to go see them. Eh, no matter. Hey Demo! You got anymore!" A bottle was flung at her, which she caught in her hands. "Thanks!" She then happily raised her bottle in the air, toasting. "Let's dig in!"

"Yeah she's drunk." A nearby Engineer commented.

 **A/N: That's about it! Nothing much really to talk about down here. Sorry if this Arena mode gimmick is dragging on far too long, the next chapter will have a resolution and a victor determined. Stay tuned!**

 **Also, since he helped me a bit a while back, and a friend, I would like to suggest** _ **Cadaver1041**_ **'s Leaving a Dead World. It's a TF2XRWBY crossover story like mine and chief of RAGE's, but it's much more darker, and if you want more plot and less humor, that's what you hit up. It's a really good read, and it would help him a lot if you gave your thoughts on it.**

 **No reviews, so Imma just shut up now. Bye!**

 **Proud Beta reader: The great chief of RAGE!**


	17. Arena Mode - Second half and Results

"Ouch!" Engineer said with a slight wince. "That's gonna hurt in the morning."

"Certainly." Spy pressed a button on the keyboard, replaying the clip from the camera. "Wonder how Miss Nikos managed that. I would have to ask her later…"

"Well," Engineer glanced to his right, pressing a small red button as he did so. The computer console's screen changed to that of 12 cameras monitoring his sentry guns. "Defenses seem pretty good. Won't be needin' us to go in just yet."

The sentry guns on screen wrecked havoc among the Grimm numbers, tearing through flesh and bone with the wonderful power of lead and gunpowder. Some managed to get up close, but the sentries would prioritize them, instantly decimating the offenders. Another camera showed a group of Beowolves being blown to the stratosphere via a volley of rockets, as the resulting shockwave injured multiple more.

Summer rested her left hand on the headrest of the Engineer's chair as she held a bottle of scrumpy in her other hand. "Won't your sentries run out of bullets soon?" She questioned, before taking another sip of the alcohol.

"I've thought of that. See these tubes?" The Texan gestured to a black thick wire leading to the sentry's ammo compartment. "I've hooked those wires up to mah dispensers in the old garage, meaning ammo for literally eternity."

Summer's eyes narrowed slightly. "But… How do you transport them all across, like, 2 miles between Beacon and the Emerald Forest?" She incredulously asked.

The Engineer only 'tsked' in response. "I used teleporters." The Texan noticed the still questioning look on Summer's face. "No, I won't explain to you how it works. I'd very much prefer my technology in my own hands."

The Rose narrowed her eyes even more, but decided against continuing the topic and shifted her attention back to the screen. "How long has the match been going on for?"

"A little more than twenty minutes." The Spy replied in Engineer's stead. "Why?"

"Meh, just asking." She then looked to the designated demolition man. "Yo Demo! Get me some more of this stuff!"

"Nice throw Pyr!" Jaune complimented the warrior, who gave a smile in response. He then turned his head in the direction of the team's explosive expert. "Nora! Let's go!"

The ginger-head turned around and fired a few grenades behind them, rumbling the ground beneath them. "Where are we headed?!" She screamed out cheerfully, in spite of the bullets whizzing by her.

Jaune ducked his head lower as he saw a few bullets impact the walls of the alleyway they are running through. "I have a plan! Just follow me!" His ears picked up the sounds of gunfire distinctly different from Pyrrha's rifle, and raised his shield up on pure instinct. Said instinct proved to be correct as two bullets slammed into the ancient piece of weaponry.

"Quick! In here!" Jaune thrust his sword in the direction of a small pathway. "Nora, you go first! Pyr, last!" He quickly yelled out over the sounds of constant gunfire. How many rounds does Ruby's gun pack!?

As the grenade launcher-toting girl went into the pathway, he followed in with his shield raised and soon after the redhead followed suit, her rifle never letting up its rhythm of gunfire.

Ruby let out a breath of air. "Yang! Try to get them from above. I'm giving chase." The brawler simply winked and blasted-jumped onto the rooftops above. Ruby paused for a moment to confirm her rifle is still chambered in her preferred ammunition, before dashing in the direction of Team JNPR, or BLU Team in this situation.

"Uh, Pyr! Up above! Need some help!" Pyrrha heard his pleas for help and responded in kind with a quick burst at the blonde menace overhead.

Yang grunted slightly as she felt the rounds deflect off her body courtesy of her Aura. "Bad idea!" Still in mid-air, she fired a few shots from her gauntlet shotguns straight towards the group below. She absently noted that the pathway lead to a rather large building with a large dome roof, but paid it no mind as she continued to unleash explosive ammunition on the group.

"Incoming!" Jaune shouted out for his teammates to hear as he brought his shield up to protect himself from the soon-to-be resulting blast. A millisecond later, a massive force was pressed against his shield as Jaune's heel dug deeper into the soil beneath him. "Go!"

Both redheads heeded his warnings and charged ahead, with the blonde following closely after he regained his bearings from the explosive ammo utilized by Yang, taking opportunity of the blonde reloading her weapon. Soon, their sprinting lead them to a wide enclosed space, with various crates and containers scattered around seemingly as cover.

"Spread out, shoot them when they come through! Nora!" Jaune jabbed a finger at the walkway overhead, suspended two meters in the air by metal beams. "Get on those railings and provide support!"

"You got it!" Nora quickly fired off a mocking salute before climbing a nearby container and jumping on the walkway. "Have fun!" She yelled out, all the while sporting a big grin.

"Hehe… Have fun eh? Might have some trouble with that…" The blonde muttered to himself lowly as his partner disappeared behind some crates. His internal conversation was suddenly interrupted in the form of a round whizzing past his head, taking off a strand of his blonde hair.

Through her scope, Ruby noted that Jaune forgot about the one of the many rules of combat – stay in cover. Well, that round should remind him about that. She however seemed to forgot about the same rule as well, as a few rounds pinged off of her Aura. Pulling out her Scroll, she discovered that she only has about forty-percent Aura left. Not good.

As she wondering where her sister was, the top of the dome exploded inwards, showering the – supposedly – warehouse with debris and letting a ray of sunlight in. Following immediately thereafter was Yang, her beautiful golden hair flowing gloriously behind her as she crashed down onto the ground.

Immediately following her touchdown, Yang's surrounding was bombarded by grenades, forcing her to jump away in fear of being torn asunder by the impact-sensitive grenades.

A quick check of her surroundings revealed to her a certain ginger head's location, at the very end of the warehouse's railings behind cover, Nora's signature _Magnhild_ poking over the thin slab of metal. Yang cocked her shotguns and fired two shots at the offending girl, before blast-jumping onto a nearby metal container. "I'm coming for you!"

Nora heard the gunshots, and had rolled out of the way before her cover along with that part of the walkway was blown to bits. In retaliation, she hefted her grenade launcher and sent a grenade on the metal container her opponent was standing on.

The grenade exploded the container, but not its intended target. Said target was jumping around containers and walls, rapidly closing in on the girl. Seeing the unmistakable form of Yang approaching, Nora grinned toothily, before shouting "Bring it on!" and pressing a button on the _Magnhild_.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out. "Keep your head down!" Her warning came almost too late, when a few rounds whizzed past her leader's head, prompting the blonde to make himself even more lower.

Jaune let out a short puff of air, before waving towards his partner and friend. "Thanks!" His eyes darted around the battleground as he mentally surveyed the warehouse.

" _Ruby's got me pinned down, and so is Pyrrha… I've got to get in close."_ Quickly going through somewhat possible scenarios in his head, Jaune crept up to Pyrrha as close as he could without getting knocked out by a ridiculously high-impact round from Crescent Rose. He had been on the receiving end of said attack once, and it was not a pleasant experience. "Pyrrha!"

The redhead in question jerked her head at Jaune, signifying she was listening. Before he could voice his words however, Pyrrha swiftly lifted her rifle overhead and depressed the trigger multiple times, then just as quickly lowered it. "Yes?"

"Could you provide some suppressing fire?"

Pyrrha poked her head over her cover, but was quickly forced back down by a few glancing shots. "I don't know if you can't tell, but it's hard to suppress when _we're_ being suppressed." She said with a hint of frustration in her voice, almost going unnoticed by her leader.

"Ugh…" Jaune wracked his brain for an idea that might work, before his eyes fell upon a stack of crates, relatively large in size, and most of all – Visibly made out of metal alloys. A metaphorical lightbulb lit up in his head. "Pyrrha! Could you get those metal crates and throw it at her, then suppress?"

Pyrrha glanced at the metal crates approximately on her ten o' clock, before looking back at Jaune and nodding. "Alright, just give the word." She said with steely determination in her voice. Her leader simply nodded and gave a small smile, before creeping behind cover to a metal container.

"Alright, take a deep breath…" Jaune sucked in volumes of air, before letting it all out. "… There. Okay…" He lifted up three fingers for Pyrrha to see, before slowly bring his ring finger, then his middle finger, then finally, harshly forming his hand into a fist.

At once, Pyrrha reached out with her semblance, and felt the presence of the metal crates. She lifted up her hands, before activating her magnetism, surrounding her arm in mysterious black light. She mentally focused, before tightening her force on the crates and, using her semblance, threw them at the girl.

Jaune ignored the clangs of metal striking metal and dashed towards the nearest cover he could find, almost tripping as he sprinted towards the metal container. He stopped for a moment, before the sounds of gunfire reached his ears. He then continued his charge, quickly moving between cover. To his relief, no shots have been fired at him so far as he slowly approached the doorway in which Ruby is sniping from.

"Aw shucks." The redhead grumbled, as more rounds pinged against the cover she was using. The situation has already deteriorated, with her being suppressed. What's more, she can't close in to melee, Pyrrha would just force her back down.

Letting out another sigh, Ruby started to really regret not taking the chance to move in on her opponent just now. Sometimes, she got so focused that she gets tunnel vision on how to do things, especially with her still naïve mindset.

Suddenly, her Scroll pinged, the cheerful tone of the alert almost went unheard amongst the gunfire. Pulling it out, Ruby was relieved to see a short message from her teammate.

' _Pinned down, warehouse entrance. Go for Pyrrha.'_ As soon as she finished typing in the message, she faintly heard footsteps behind her. Turning around, she barely had enough time to register Blake's petite form vaulting over a metal crate in her way, before the Faunus expertly deflected multiple bullets sent her way with Gambol Shroud.

Pyrrha, not at all deterred by her enemy's skill, transformed Milo into its sword form and met Blake in close-combat. Electing to abandon her cover, the champion jumped over the thick slab of metal namely her cover and delivered a quick thrust of her blade to the Faunus.

Reacting quickly, Blake batted aside the weapon using her sheath and bringing up her leg to prepare for a kick. The kick connected, but not on its intended target, Pyrrha's stomach. Instead, a jolt of pain signified that she had instead kicked the Amazonian-esque girl's shield.

Feeling the pain from the attack even through her Aura, Blake quickly withdrew her feet, just in time to see Pyrrha attempt to slice it with her blade. The attack missed, but Pyrrha expected this, and bashed her shield against the ex-White Fang militant.

Just as the shield was about to connect with with Blake's torso, her body fizzled and disappeared. Just as quickly as it happened, the Faunus reappeared behind her opponent's body and delivered a strong kick to Pyrrha's spine. As she did so, Blake transformed Gambol Shroud into its machine pistol form and fired a short burst at Pyrrha's back. All this happened in the span of five seconds and left the redhead at barely 60 percent Aura.

"Good job Blake!" RWBY's leader shouted out, before refocusing on her adversary – Jaune. Said adversary was shifting nervously while his knuckles turned slightly white from gripping his weapons a tad too hard.

Jaune chuckled as he quickly – desperately – try to come up with a battle plan to use against Ruby. "Uh…" He gulped audibly. "Go easy on me?" His opponent's response was to simply let out a short feminine laugh.

"Nope!" The tone used did not belong to the battlefield.

As quickly as her speed could allow her, Ruby hefted Crescent Rose and brought it up for an overhead swing. Jaune paled at the sight of the sharp blade looming over him but ducked out of the attack in time.

Offering to respite for the boy, Ruby halted the momentum on her scythe before it hit the ground – A feat impossible without the use of Aura – and redirected the weapon towards Jaune who was hastily bringing his shield up. The pure kinetic force delivered in the attack alone broke the blonde's stride as it hit, and not counting the momentum of the scythe, as it simply propelled JNPR's leader into a nearby container with its doors open.

Dazed, the blonde slowly but shakily stood up from the attack. Wincing a bit as the pain came but to him, he once again brought his shield to bear and readied his sword. He knew that in a straight-up brawl, he would surely lose. A quick glance at his Scroll showed that he still had 60 percent of Aura remaining – Weird, considering that he had expected the attack to take off a significantly larger amount of Aura than that. His brain worked at overdrive trying to find a suitable tactic for use, but that won't be necessary, as a catalyst had arrived.

A catalyst in the form of a bright pink figure crashing into the ground outside of the container, and a yellow one following almost immediately. A cloud of dust covered the area around them, giving all four combatants in it limited visibility.

Even with severely limited visibility, the two figures fought brutally and without restraint. Sounds of shotguns going off and the dull 'Fwoom's of a grenade launcher emanated from the cloud as bright flashes of either pink or yellow-red light occasionally erupted from the smoke. Suddenly, all fighting within the cloud seems to have stopped, until a certain gingerhead flew towards the ceiling at breakneck speeds.

Jaune could barely make out Nora's face, but when he did, it showed a crazy glint in her eyes. One that told you to stay-the-fuck-away. He briefly pondered how Ren lives with this everyday, but quickly brought his attention back to the matter at hand.

Smiling, Nora transformed her weapon into a giant warhammer and started swinging it in a downwards arc. She carried the momentum on the spin forwards as her entire body spun in circles before finally colliding with the ground beneath, creating another crater. A strong shockwave travelled through the air, dispersing the smoke and revealing a battered but still standing Yang.

Yang smirked somewhat cockily before bringing her arms up in a classic boxing stance. Nora responded in kind by hefting the hammer like how a strongman would. A few seconds passed as all remaining members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR stared on, until all-out chaos ensued.

Yang charged at Nora, who charged at her. Hammer and Aura-strengthened fists connected, and a small shockwave was released. Nora pressed a trigger on the handle of her hammer and an explosion quickly engulfed the brawler. The point-blank impact-grenade pushed her back a few feet, but by then, Yang had already charged at her with a fist extended and poised to deliver a strong right hook.

The brawler closed the distance between her and the hammer-toting girl quickly before striking out with her left hand, surprising Nora who expected a right hook, and instead delivered an uppercut to the girl's chin. Before the fist could connect though, a round knocked her attack off-course and hit empty air.

A low grunt escaped Yang's mouth as her eyes darted around the warehouse to the person who shot her arm. Taking advantage of the short distraction from her teammate, Nora quickly threw out a punch at Xiao Long's face, her warhammer useless at this range. The fist connected, a small 'crack' sounded from Yang's face as she staggered back slightly.

"Oh, going for that, eh?" She said with a smirk as she saw that Blake started to attack Pyrrha. She shifted her attention back to her opponent in front of her. "Ready?" A quick nod and a smile came from the gingerhead. She grinned toothily in return, before blast-jumping forward and commencing her attack.

At the same time, Jaune decided to go ham and jump out of the container and charge at… Anyone, he didn't have a target when he charged. Noticing Ruby was at the edges of the warehouse, he decided to shift his sprint towards her. Luckily, he was approaching her just outside of her field of vision, and she seems too concentrated on getting a shot in on Nora anyways.

As he reached striking distance, he thrust out his age-old sword at Ruby's midsection, earning him a small look of surprise as the sniper pried her eyes away from her scope. She reacted quickly though, shifting her aim towards the blonde and fired two rounds against his chest near point-blank.

Jaune felt the two high-impact rounds dig into his Aura, he was sent flying backwards into a wall thanks to the kinetic energy the Dust-infused bullets carried. From his blurry vision, he could just make out the vague shape of a caped figure holding a scy-

 _ **CRACK**_

" _Jaune of Team JNPR knocked out!"_ A distinctly Southern-American accent came out of the loudspeakers littered throughout the battlefield. _"Someone call Doc to check up on 'im."_ Engineer said in a more hushed voice after a short pause.

"Sis! If you are done playing with Jauney-boy then could you please help out here!?" The voice of Yang shifted Ruby's attention from the battered and groaning body of Jaune on the ground to the almost blurry scene of Yang and Nora duking it out.

"Sorry Jaune, sorry!" She apologized, as she put a little too much force in her attack. She sighted her rifle and fired a burst at Pyrrha, knocking her back in the process and allowing Blake to get a hit in. She sighted back on the fight occurring beside her.

The two fighters' attacks seem to be quicker than what the eye could see, as they exchanged blows with either side parrying and blocking them. After a few more seconds of close dueling, a sudden pink cloud exploded between Nora and Yang, with the gingerhead using the explosion to fly backwards.

"Thanks Demmy!" She shouted, a giant toothy grin on her face. She was just about to fire a grenade, when a fist connected with her face. A small crack was heard as she was sent flying backwards once again into a pile of crates.

Coughing as she stood up, Nora stood back up and blast-jumped overhead Yang, firing a few grenades downwards as she did so. The blonde was too busy focusing on Nora and so was surprised by a few shots slamming her in the face. Before she could land though, a loud crack was followed up by a shot square in the stomach, courtesy of Ruby's aim.

The blonde growled out in frustration, her hair already on fire and burning brightly. She quickly turned around and saw who was the offender, but not without getting hit by some grenade shrapnel from Nora.

Pyrrha kicked Blake's arm, knocking her weapon away, before swinging her sword in an arc and hitting the Faunus in the head with the guard of the sword. A follow up high kick to the head dazed Blake even further, and Pyrrha took the short reprise to get a few shots off of Yang, distracting her just long enough for Nora to fire another grenade at her and blowing up in her face.

Turning her attention back to Blake, the Faunus was standing upright, albeit with a barely noticeable wobble. A short grow came out of her mouth as she charged forwards with her Gambol Shroud held high. Though instead of an overhead swing like Pyrrha expected, Blake diverted her swing into a thrust to the chest. The trick worked, as the blade was driven into the Mistralian's Aura. It did not last long though, as it was quickly batted away not a blink of the eye later.

Without warning, a large explosion shook the place, as pink mushroom clouds suddenly popping up everywhere, as well as the accompanying explosions. One grenade landed near the duo, detonating just as it hit the ground and blasting the two combatants away.

"TASTE MY GREAT BOMBS!" An audibly crazy voice echoed throughout the warehouse as more explosions erupted around them. With only about one or two meters of visibility, the contestants were basically fighting blind. This did not deter Pyrrha though, as she mentally reached out with her semblance, sensing the traces of metal around her. A blob of metal was moving around, so that was immediately identified as Nora. A quick blip flew up behind the grenadier and had a fist held up high.

"Nora! Behind you!" Pyrrha shouted, and shortly thereafter raised her rifle and fired off a shot without aiming. It was by pure chance alone that the bullet had landed its mark, a grunt audibly signaling that it hit. Still using her semblance, she used the metal of Ember Celica to identify Yang's position, and aimed down range and fired. Before she could let off a second shot however, a loud blast filled the air and a gloved fist was promptly approaching her face.

The attack was simply too fast to dodge, and the fist connected with a _crack_ and left Pyrrha in a dazed state. Before she could recover, a slash at the back dropped her Aura even more. She hazily reached for her sword which was knocked out of her hand when she was hit, but a shot soaring through the pink smoke and directly hitting her temple did the job.

" _Pyrrha Nikos of Team JNPR down! Only Nora remains!"_ The loudspeaker announced once more. After a short pause, the speakers buzzed again and a new voice spoke. _"No-_ _ **hic**_ _-ra! Gif 'em a-_ _ **BURP**_ _\- ah good beatin', laddie!"_ The drunken voice of a certain Scotsman muttered, before the speakers went silent once more.

The girl being addressed grinned madly and gave a two fingered salute to a camera in the corner of the warehouse. "Ya got it, demo guy!" She then switched Magnhild to its Warhammer of Doom™ form and charged at Yang while screaming a cheerful yet maniacal war cry.

Accepting the unspoken challenge, Yang readied herself in a classic boxing stance, as both Ruby and Blake ran up beside her, weapons held at the ready. Instead of meeting them in a melee however, Nora swung her warhammer downwards and shot a grenade out, performing an explosive jump and landing on the ceiling for a split second. Still sporting a big grin, she blast-jumped again and while mid-air, started swinging her hammer in a horizontal arc faster than the eye could see.

With impressive timing, Nora fired a grenade right when the hammer was at a certain angle relative to her horizontally, and inertia became a bitch towards the remnants of Team RWBY and the grenade flew towards them in an arc. Not expecting the swerving grenade, Team RWBY was caught in the explosion, dealing a good amount of hurt to their Auras.

Yang was hit hardest, as the grenade hit her directly in the chest, dealing the most damage, and absorbing the most shrapnel. As she is about to call upon her semblance, a giant warhammer pierced through the dust cloud and slammed right into her face. She was sent flying and doing cartwheels midair before coming to a stop _in_ the wall, a crater in her shape signifying her bone-crushing defeat.

" _And – Ow! – Yang of Team RWBY is knocked, OUT!"_ Engineer spoke through the speakers again, giving a short hoot in the process before shutting off his mic.

"Yang!" Ruby cried out worriedly, but a – albeit wobbly – thumbs up from her sister soothed her worries. Except for the fact that she's still lodged into the wall. Yeah that.

Team RWBY's leader and Blake fared much better than their teammate though. Ruby escaped mostly unscathed, due to Yang absorbing most of the shrapnel and Blake only received some superficial damage, again, due to Yang being a meat shield.

Ruby nodded once, and the remaining members to Team RWBY surged forwards with their weapons extended. "Checkmate!"

"Not falling for that!" Nora yelled, jumping up onto a container and knocking pieces of debris towards the charging duo with her warhammer. Both of them dodged it effortlessly, and jumped up onto the container. Nora was standing in the middle, while the two were standing off to both sides.

Nora looked between the two, looked at something in the distance and smiled, before shrugging casually and, seeing that the two started to attack her, spun her warhammer around and jumped off of the container before breaking out into a mad dash in a random direction.

Ruby and Blake looked at each other for a while, before Ruby gave the commad. "Let's get her!" They fired their weapons while they chased the gingerhead across the warehouse, who was apparently grabbing something from one of her pockets. She then abruptly stopped, fired some grenades at the duo and making them scatter for cover, before fishing out a metal rod and jammed it into an…

Electrical socket. Those were the words that rang out from the heads of Ruby and Blake as they had an _oh fuck_ moment. The crazy laughter of Nora as she switched on the socket's power was soon drowned by the sound of her grenades whistling and flying about, hitting the cover R and B had been using.

The debris flew about, as Nora changed Magnhild back into Warhammer of Doom® mode and blast-jumped forwards and smacking Blake right on the forehead with said warhammer. A loud crack pierced the air accompanied by a buzzer. The Texan spoke once more through the speakers.

" _Blake's down! Medic, go check 'er for brain trauma later."_

"No! You monster!" A shrill voice was heard was Ruby cried out a bit too dramatically.

Nora grinned, lifting her warhammer from the defeated figure of Blake. Electricity danced around her body as her semblance did its work. "Thanks!" She replied in her ever cheerful tone.

Before she could say 'You're welcome…?', Nora blast-jumped _again_ in Ruby's direction as the brunette fumbled with her weapon in slight panic, raising her weapon to aim at the girl rather hurriedly.

The move proved to be futile however, as Ruby had realized when her shot went wide by a few inches of Nora's frame. Attempting to hold her off, Ruby used Crescent Rose to try to defend herself against an overhead swing from Nora.

But then, a scythe is used for cutting and slashing. While a warhammer, on the other hand, is used for smashing and pure blunt force attacks. Which was better against the other was made evident and Nora shifted her warhammer's momentum into a horizontal swing, successfully knocking Ruby's weapon away.

Ruby's mouth quivered and her eyes grew slightly teary at seeing her beloved weapon get flung through the air at breakneck speeds into a wall. She was brought out of her emotional state however when a hammer was put between her face and the wall behind her. Forcefully.

 _ **BZZT!**_ _"And that's it! Nora wins! Give 'er a good holler!"_ Engineer did just as he himself suggested, hooting and cheering. A percussion-heavy song started playing in the background(TF2 Main Theme) as Ruby slid down the wall, holding her face in pain. A dull throbbing of pain erupted from her nose, as she could feel liquid flowing from her nostrils.

She said the only thing she could at the time. "Owww…"

"Hehe, sorry Ruby! Might'a hit you tad too hard!" Nora exclaimed with a _somewhat_ apologetic expression while holding out a hand for Ruby. Still grimacing from her now bleeding nose, Ruby Rose grabbed the hand and hoisted herself up with a huff.

"Uhh…" Ruby started, "Where should we go now?" Suddenly, holographic signs popped up from the walls and the grounds, all pointing towards the warehouse exit. "Oh. Huh. Let's go!"

They walked to the entrance of the warehouse, when Ruby suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Wait! The others!"

Nora looked at her confusedly, before something clicked in her mind and her mouth morphed into an 'o' shape. "Oh… Yeah…" She pursed her lips slightly. "We should check on them…"

"Yang!" Ruby said as she supported Yang with her shoulders. "What did you eat today?!" She complained loudly, as the blonde was resting her right hand on the Rose's left shoulder.

"One turkey…"

Ruby sighed again. "Why'd you eat so much?"

Yang looked her sister in the eye. "Hey! It looked good! And no one was eating it! It tasted good as well!"

"That's because the turkey was overcooked! Can't you see the skin is already roasted to black?!"

"I was hungry!" Came the retort from Yang.

Nearby, Weiss was supporting Blake by slinging her shoulder over the Faunus' neck. A small sigh escaped her lips. "And to think these are the teammates we are stuck with for the rest of our time here at Beacon."

Blake shot a quick glance over at the bickering sisters. "Yeah… It's not all bad though." She said with a small smile.

Weiss seemed to agree with her statement, as she too let a smile overcome her facial features. "True… Come on, we're almost at the rendezvous point."

Besides them, Nora was holding up Ren like one would cradle a baby, much to his embarrassment (and to her amusement), while Pyrrha was helping Jaune with walking, as his Aura still hasn't fully recovered with the attack from Ruby.

"Ow!"

Pyrrha gave the blonde a concerned look. "Are you alright, Jaune?"

Said boy nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine… You?"

"I'm okay, but you really don't seem like you are…" She narrowed her eyes as Jaune went into a coughing fit. "… You really don't."

"Heh, just a good hit, that's all. Don't worry, I'll get checked up by Proffessor Medic soon." He said in an attempt to sooth Pyrrha's worries. It seemed to be working, as Pyrrha's concerned expression soon turned into a relieved one.

"That good." She said simply. After a short pause though, she spoke up again. "Speaking of which, the professors haven't really given us their names yet… Well, save for the Engineer, but still. Isn't it a bit odd, for them to withhold their names from us? Their students?"

Jaune thought about what she said for a while, before nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Really strange." He then shrugged, albeit with a slight wince. "Maybe they just wanted to keep secrets." Pyrrha seemed to be content with that, and they walked in relative silence for a while.

As the group of eight continued their march towards the location which every sign pointed towards, the sounds of gunfire soon reached their ears, as well as the howling and horrifying cries of the Grimm. Immediately, the teenagers went into full alert mode, scanning their surroundings with keen eyes while readying their weapons.

Their worries were somewhat soothed though when the Engineer walked out from a random nondescript house, a large smile on his face. "Damn you boys n' girls could have a good fight." He chuckled lightly when more gunfire erupted and the sounds of Grimm howling reached the group's ears.

"Don't worry, we're all still in the shield." He gestured upwards to the large bubble shield still intact. "And those are just my sentries doin' their magic. Now follow me, kiddos. You'll get your rest soon."

"Ahem." Spy began. "First of all, you all performed outstandingly in today's match. Though not all of you have remained to the end of it," Several heads looked down sheepishly. "But in the end, Team JNPR managed to pull through out of this. Congratulations. You've earned it."

"Yeah," Ruby started, her nose stuffed with tissue paper, insisted by her mother and much to her own chagrin. "Your team did a real number on us." She smiled brightly. "We should do that again!"

"Nora really did most of the work, though." Jaune pointed out, eliciting a good laugh from said girl.

"Demo taught me everythin' he knew about explosive jumping, so thanks to him!" The man in question simply raised his bottle in salute, before continuing to chug it down.

Spy shook his head at his teammates antics, before turning back to Team RWBY. "Regardless, this is just the start of your training for the Vytal Festival. You've elected to take part in it, so we have to train you even harder. Alright, now get going, class is dismissed!"

The students slowly filtered out of the combat auditorium, their mouths constantly chattering with each other without stop. Looking at his watch, Spy determined that it was time to pack up and did just so.

"Yo!" Spy looked up and saw the older Huntsman approaching the group of Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training. "Who's up for some ice cream? My treat!" A series of agreements echoed from the group as they started following Summer towards the exit.

"Hmph." Medic began as he walked up to Spy. "Zey surely have energy, even after a fight like zat."

Spy glanced towards the silhouettes of the eight teenagers and couldn't help but agree. "True, they are still teenagers after all."

Nearby, Demoman let out a rather loud burp before jumping on the subject. "Ay, reminds me 'bout tha old team! Scout kept runnin' round like ah lil' puma even after tha match ended!"

"Amen to that." Engineer muttered under his breath as he packed up his tools. "Really wonder what they're doin' right now."

"Hmphmm! Mphmm phmm?"

"Eeyup. Ah miss 'em too." He finished packing up and hefted the toolbox to his shoulders. "Hm. Hey guys!" Engineer called out, drawing the attention of his brothers-in-arms. "Who's up for a game a' cards t'night?"

Demoman immediately stopped his relentless chugging and shot the Engineer a mischievous glance. "Ya better be ready, I'm playin' fer keeps!"

Demoman screamed indignantly as he constantly banged his head on the wall, spewing out profanities about the Engineer's mother and her very black male reproductive organ. Spy shot the Scotsman a glance before turning back to his hand.

"Your turn."

As Engineer dealt his card, Spy briefly glanced over to the high stack of Lien cards arranged neatly on the game table. It was almost as high as Spy himself. He then glanced back to the table, and his face fell immediately.

"Hehe," Engineer chuckled amusedly as he dragged the stack of Lien to his side of the table. "Ya can't beat a Texan at Texas hold 'em."

As Spy deflated as he watched the prize money get whisked away, Engineer's grin grew bigger as he swiveled around in his chair to look at the remaining members of his team. "Say, who's up fer another round?"

All he heard were the cries of frantic rejection from Medic, as well as a flare gun igniting and firing along with something about his mother having been a sex-craving whore.

 **Another Wrap! I now just realized the absolutely miniscule number of chapters I've posted this year so far, damn. Sorry readers, but I don't really have much of a muse this year.**

 **This is the longest chapter I've ever written, I hope you enjoy it! Now if you bitch about the fight, I really am sorry that I dragged it out for so long, and if it sucks.**

 **If some of you aren't happy about who won in the fights, well first off, I'm not a Jaune!power believer. In fact, I regard him as the weakest character physically speaking (I love his character) prior to Volume 4 or at least volume 3. His good trait I used is that he's an excellent strategist. Secondly, Nora is one of the strongest fighters in pure strength, probably second to if not stronger than Yang, and add in her semblance and she's pretty much a wrecking machine.**

 **Alright, so I've recently read through** _ **The 5 New Men**_ **again, and I'm cringing badly at myself. So, I've decided to rewrite it, but only in terms of grammar and fixing up formatting and all that sort of things. Some plot holes would be dealt with as well, along with some other misc stuff. So what do you think? Do you think it needs a rewrite?**

 **Alright, see you all next time!**

 **Reviews (There's only one so… yeah.)**

 **Darkromdemon: For your Feb review, I can't really comment on that since I never really played Arena mode, but I can feel you on the random crits. Especially if you should've earned that kill. Fighting against bread monsters was Chief of Rage's idea, so I borrowed it from him. Cinder dying? Might not be so soon, but there will be plans with her.**


	18. Discontinuation & Announcement

Yep, it might disappoint you, but I'm discontinuing this story. After having reread the whole series I wrote over the past one year, I decided to cancel this. Reviewing all the shit I've done, realizing how many plot holes, errors or fuck-ups I've done is very… eye-opening, for a lack of a better word.

I felt I could've done better, _much_ better, but I didn't. All of the potential things I could've used, I didn't.

So, I'm going to be sadly discontinuing _The Five Mercenaries_ , and covering it with an old rag.

…

But _wait!_ There's more!

I made a shitton of mistakes, that I understand. So, I am going to rewrite the fuck outta this series! That's right, I'm starting over, and going back to the very beginning, and not just editing, but full-on rewriting this shit. I'll still leave this old series up for anyone to read, but it'll have a big ass [DISCONTINUED] sign on it. I'll be putting off writing for now as I have a test coming up, but once that's over I'll get to work on the rewrite!

That's it, if I disappointed you, then I apologize. If I didn't, well. Go over to chief of RAGE. Thanks for BETAing my story!

Thank you everyone who read, followed, faved or left a review on my story over the last year, it actually means a goddamn lot to me :')

End -


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